From The Daily Mail in the UK:The winner of the BBC's Dancing On Wheels show has accused the Corporation of discrimination, saying it refused to pay disabled contestants a decent amount, even though celebrity participants received generous fees.
The BBC3 offshoot from Strictly Come Dancing paired James O'Shea (pictured) and five other wheelchair-bound dancers with stars including swimmer Mark Foster, singer Heather Small and rugby player Martin Offiah.
But Mr O'Shea, who won with TV presenter Caroline Flack, has complained about his 'derisory' pay.
He also claims a cameraman was highly abusive, threatening to 'gaffer tape your arms together, throw you into the Thames so only your nose is just above the water and then push you down every couple of minutes until you've learned your lesson'.
The outburst allegedly followed a private dispute in which Mr O'Shea claims the cameramen wanted to film a contestant who was upset.
Mr O'Shea, 32, says the BBC and programme makers Fever gave him just £150 a week, plus a small meal allowance and accommodation, during the 13 weeks of preparation and filming.The care assistant and professional wheelchair dancer is angry at the discrepancy in the amount offered to the competitors compared with the celebrities' fees, thought to be thousands of pounds.
He said: 'When I won the competition, I asked the producers if they could look at anyone and tell them they're only worth £150 a week.
'I told them that I wanted at least double that amount for all the competitors.
'It makes no sense. They're trying to make a TV show to make a good portrayal of disabled people, yet they're not going to pay them. It is as if their view was, "They're not worth it so we can treat them like ****." It's clear discrimination.'
Mr O'Shea says he only took part in the show after he was promised £450 a week compensation for loss of earnings.
Strictly Come Dancing professionals Ola and James Jordan were judges, while big names Brian Fortuna and Kristina Rihanoff worked on the choreography.
The BBC justified the lack of more cash for competitors by claiming that the programme was a documentary rather than an entertainment show.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said that all six wheelchair competitors had received £150 per week plus expenses.
She added: 'This was a factual, observational documentary with an element of entertainment. For a programme like this we would not generally pay contributors, although we cover expenses.
'Celebrities are slightly different. They are paid fees because they help drive the audience.'
Mr O'Shea concedes that the cameraman said he had been joking when he made his threat to throw him in the river and later apologised.
He has also received a letter from Harry Lansdown, commissioning editor for BBC3 features, offering to hold talks with him.
In the letter, Mr Lansdown wrote that 'complaints of bullying and threats of physical torture by the production team' would be treated with 'the utmost gravity'. Last night, a BBC spokeswoman said: 'We strongly reject any suggestion that we treated the contestants in this show differently to those in any other factual entertainment programme.
'As is usual practice, we agreed in advance that all contributors would have their expenses paid and, on top of this, they were given a weekly contribution in recognition of the additional time the contestants committed to the series.'
