Dara Ó Briain claps back at Daily Mail for reporting Strictly comedy routine as a news story

The comedian criticised the paper's misinterpretation of a stand-up routine about Strictly Come Dancing.

Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain has taken issue with an article about him in the Daily Mail, accusing the paper of "misquoting" a joke of his as a news story. The paper published a story this Monday (31st) with the headline: "Dara O'Briain 'reveals he has TURNED DOWN a place on Strictly Come Dancing' as he takes a swipe at the show saying: 'the celebrities f**k the dancers'". Using quotes first reported by The Sun that were allegedly taken from Ó Briain's set this weekend at the Paddy Power Comedy Festival in Dublin, the Daily Mail claims that the comedian has insisted he will never appear on the TV dance competition but that he uses the possibility of doing so as a way to discipline his teenage daughter. "I've been reduced to saying 'stop it, stop it' in this disciplinary battle - 'stop it, or I will go on Strictly Come Dancing and you will watch me dance. I will dance hard and I will get to Latin week. I will cha cha cha'," the papers quote him as saying.

The Daily Mail alleges that Dara Ó Briain turned down appearing on Strictly Come Dancing

Both the Irish Sun and the Daily Mail also quote comments reportedly made by Ó Briain on Mock the Week, the panel show he hosted from 2005 until its cancellation last year, where he joked about the so-called the "Strictly Curse". This is the notion that taking part in Strictly Come Dancing as a celebrity or a professional dancer threatens the romantic relationship that a person is in when they sign up. Responding to the Daily Mail, Ó Briain took to Twitter and wrote: "Exciting to see the Daily Mail today misquoting a comedy routine of mine, as a news story.

"I’m sure it will get lost amidst proper celebrity gossip but let me just clarify I said nothing they quoted, I said slightly different things with an almost completely different meaning."