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Rock legend Gene Simmons has infuriated Dancing with the Stars viewers, who found his comments directed at many of the female celebrities and dancers to be “misogynistic” and “creepy.”

The co-founder and co-lead singer of rock band Kiss, 75, was welcomed as the celebrity guest judge on Tuesday’s (October 8) episode of the ABC reality dance competition series.

Sitting among the panel of judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough, Simmons took turns chiming in to provide feedback to the contestants after their routines.

However, he seemed to focus a lot of his attention and praise on the contestants’ physical attributes.

Speaking to 24-year-old actor and singer Chandler Kinney following her Jive with partner Brandon Armstrong, Simmons quipped: “Chandler, you fogged up my glasses.

“You moved me, not with your gyrations… but your beautiful face and how you were into the emotion of it – top to bottom,” the “See You Tonite” singer said before directing his attention to Armstrong, saying: “You’re pretty good too.”

Earlier in the night, a shirtless Danny Amendola performed the Paso Doble with his partner Whitney Carson.

“This is a brand new experience for me,” Simmons said, “and it’s difficult to look at both of you and to figure out which one is more hot, hot, hot.”

When fellow judge Tonioli tried to suggest that he could go “both ways,” Simmons wagged his finger while insisting: “No, no, no.”

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He instead continued to tell Amendola: “You are right next to somebody – one of the more beautiful women on the planet – she makes you look good.”

Elsewhere in the episode, he referred to Family Matters alum Reginald VelJohnson’s dance partner Emma Slater as “a beautiful woman” who can “twist and turn it and knows how to move it and all that.”

During and after the night’s episode, several viewers took to X to express their anger at Simmons’ comments, with one writing: “Can we get Gene Simmons off the stage immediately pls i cannot take these misogynistic comments.”

“Gene Simmons is seriously sucking all the energy out of the ballroom with his creepy comments about the female dancers,” a second agreed.

A third said: “Hey gene! just wanna remind you that this is a dancing show, NOT a beauty contest. respectfully never come back pls and thank you #DWTS.”

“Gene Simmons hitting on every breathing woman in that damn ballroom,” a fourth tweeted, alongside a gif of Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller angrily saying: “I’ve had it, enough.”

Another argued that he made “the worst guest judge on Dancing with the Stars,” with another calling on ABC to “issue an apology after having Gene Simmons on there and subjecting their cast to that. Why didn’t a producer tell him to knock it off?”

The Independent has contacted ABC and Simmons’ representative for comment.

The fourth week of the competition ended in another double elimination, sending both VelJohnson and actor Eric Roberts home.

Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8pm with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has called in a rejected planning application for a multimillion-pound film studio development in what is being closely watched as a test of Labour’s appetite to prioritise economic growth in the creative industries.

A proposed £750m development at Marlow Film Studios that would have created 4,000 jobs was turned down by Buckinghamshire council in May, citing concerns about the impact on the road network and use of the green belt.

The project has received high-profile backing from film-makers including 1917 director, Sam Mendes, and James Cameron, the Hollywood director of Titanic and Avatar. The site would have 44,000 sq metres (470,000 sq ft) of new soundstages.

The developers lodged an appeal but now Rayner, as secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, has called in the planning decision. Ministers will now ultimately determine whether the studio development is approved. Rayner has spoken about the need to unblock and overhaul the planning system in the green belt.

The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said the Labour government views the creative industries as a key part of the economy, generating £125bn a year. This week she confirmed that the independent film tax credit scheme giving tax relief to independent film productions would go ahead.

Marlow Film Studio welcomed Rayner’s decision. “This is a project of national importance. The UK’s film and TV industry leads the world,” it said.

A second film studio development planned for the green belt is also mired in the planning system.

Holyport Studios, a £100m scheme proposed by Greystoke Land, would provide 20,900 sq metres of soundstage space, divided between 15 stages, along with a 1.1-hectare (2.9-acre) backlot, a virtual reality and games facility, and would create an estimated 350 direct on-site jobs when in full operation, as well as an estimated 1,400 jobs for the local area, according to the developer.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refused the development in March, but Greystoke has appealed, and the independent Planning Inspectorate, which deals with applications and appeals in England, is due to hold an inquiry into the plans next month.

The concil refused Greystoke’s application in March, claiming the development would be inappropriate for the green belt and would harm the character of the area.

Sources close to both schemes expressed hope that the political backdrop has improved given the Labour government’s commitment to reform the planning system and statements about the importance of the film and TV industry. In a speech earlier this year to Labour creatives, Keir Starmer said: “What we make and produce is known and loved in every corner of the globe.”

Film studio space in the UK has doubled in the past three years from 297,000 sq metres in 2019, to 492,000 sq metres in 2022-23, according to UK government figures that suggest at the current rate of expansion Britain will be second only to Hollywood globally by the end of 2025.

Under the appeals process, the Planning Inspectorate can conduct an inquiry (or hearings) and the secretary of state has the power to determine an appeal or recover an appeal at any stage until the planning inspector has issued their decision. Any further appeal would then be through a judicial review application to the high court.

In theory, the secretary of state can call in a planning application for any reason, but in practice very few applications are called in each year. Between 2010-2011 and 2022-2023, the secretary of state called in 198 planning applications.

Cases that qualify include those that may conflict with national policy or those that could have significant effects beyond their immediate locality. Each case is considered on its individual merits.

Sam Kershaw of campaign group Save Marlow’s Greenbelt is opposed to the proposed studio. “We expect the forthcoming planning inquiry to reveal that the economic benefits would be negligible and we hope that Angela Rayner will then decide that this is not a good use of green belt land as it will do nothing to generate growth or fix the housing crisis,” he said.

He said he feared that the studio’s backers had been lobbying the government to approve their appeal in the hope that proposed changes to the green belt regulations would work in their favour.

Planning consents for new film studios increased by 45% between 2018 and 2021, while applications were up by 35%, according to a 2022 report by the property consultancy Knight Frank. However, demand has been hit by last year’s Hollywood strikes by writers and actors, and there have been suggestions that there may now be too much space.

Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “We will be robustly defending the decision of the council as the local decision maker to refuse this application in evidence to the appointed inspector at the inquiry and the secretary of state, and will urge them to fully consider the significant local concerns.”

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “[the ministry] has recovered an appeal by Dido Property Ltd for film studios and associated works at Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. We cannot comment further at this stage.”

A BBC weather forecaster can be seen being talked over while being broadcast in a clip that surfaced online today.

Meteorologist Ben Rich began to explain how the UK will be affected by an upcoming storm before a colleague’s voice could be heard cutting in.

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Gesturing at Stornoway, Ben said: “Towards the north of the UK, things here will start to feel colder.”

But before he could get any further into the weather forecast, his voice began to be drowned out by the BBC breaking news sound effect.

He continued to indicate how gusts of wind would push rainclouds across the country, but one of his colleagues in the US could be heard speaking at the same time.

Catriona Perry chimed in saying: “I’m in Washington, and this is BBC World News America.”

She had just started sharing a news bulletin about Israel when sound tech workers in the studio realised the mistake and switched her audio off.

One viewer captured the moment and posted it to social media, writing: “BBC World News America Rehearsal blooper during weather forecast.”

This comes weeks after another mishap on BBC News when a presenter was forced to sprint across the show’s set just seconds before her live broadcast.

Alice Bhandhukravi was heading up Wednesday night’s BBC News at 10 for London when the incident happened.

The seasoned presenter had opened the programme, after taking over from Sophie Raworth who hosted the national bulletin.

However, Alice could be seen running across the studio to her desk as the titles finished rolling.

The newsreader appeared to get her opening position wrong, resulting in the last-minute sprint to her desk.

Catching her breath, Alice remained professional as she brought viewers the evening’s top stories.

BBC News’ Biggest Blunders

The Beeb has suffered a number of gaffes recently, here we take a look at the biggest, and funniest, mishaps to date: