Poor Gorka.
The BBC should pay for his dental work. He wouldn't have been in Blackpool if not for them/the show.
It won't do the Blackpool tourist industry any favours that this is being widely reported.

It is far more likely that if the attack had any reason that is was homophobic rather than xenophobic given where they were going, although I have not been there for a few years always found the place ok.

I would bet there was many people from the dance world at the club as does happen when the Nationals or any dance event happens at Blackpool.

Late night attacks happen in all cities and countries - not exclusive to UK - sadly just the world we live in today - not the impression one would like to give to Gorka of Blackpool or the UK

Yet such attacks have gone up 41% since June. They are inextricably linked to Brexit.

The attack on Gorka MAY not have been racially motivated. However the fact that such attacks have risen sharply since Brexit cannot be denied.

This is probably true.

You can't correlate it with post Brexit Britain - you don't know why he was attacked. You're just making an assumption.

Anywhere there's late night drinking is unsafe, and society is getting more aggressive in general. Even on seeming;y ordinary forums like DS you get extreme views. People hide behind screen names thinking they're anonymous and become bold at verbally attacking others. Twitter is probably the worst.

There have always been homophobic, racial and unprovoked attacks both physical and verbal, pre Brexit and post Brexit. Brexit has just given some something to associate it with, when it was increasing anyway.
I live next to Bournemouth - a nice south coast seaside town, yet there's more or less been a murder every week for the last several years and for a variety of reasons. It's also unwise to go into the town centre at night because of all the nightclubs and bars open late with drunken fights and assaults happening on a nightly basis. Probably happens in other towns all over the country as well. Nothing to do with Brexit - just what's been happening over the last several years to our society in general. Once a couple of assaults were reported post Brexit with racial links people are now more willing to report an attack.

Fell very sorry for Gorka - must have been a dreadful experience - and hope he recovers fully, but until the actual details are reported the reason for the attack is just unfounded speculation.

Could you provide evidence in support of your claim that Blackpool nightlife is notoriously rough?

Here's evidence of the attacks on 'foreigners' post-Brexit:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7358866.html

I work in a very international place and it happened to work colleagues. It may or may not have something to do with the attack on Gorka but it is a fact that it's happening and is on the increase sadly.

You make a lot of anecdotal claims in this post.

Here's a link to the amount of hate crime post-Brexit:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7358866.html

Of course, it is entirely possible that Gorka's attack had nothing to do with the hostility towards 'foreigners' generated by the Brexit campaign. Time will tell but in the meantime we are all just speculating and one speculation is just as valid as another.

No I can't. I have been there for dance competitions and I was told not to go to venues in the centre of town at night and so it is just anecdotal. I'm afraid I didn't test out the advice. It wasn't the main point of my post however. All I saying was that people should wait until they hear more background before extrapolating general political points, which may be relevant (I am not denying them and I did NOT vote for Brexit). It just seems a bit opportunist to immediately leap in and use Gorka's assault to push home a political view.

It was reported on Good Morning Britain this morning, is that good enough for you?

Going to Blackpool is an expensive addition to the BBC's most expensive LE show - and, when budgets are being slashed across the board, I would say that not returning to Blackpool would be a pretty easy justification after this incident. Why spend the extra money when your talent gets attacked and injured? It's just not worth the stress - or the extra money.

The people who should be worried are Blackpool council. This is appalling publicity for them.

And where's that 'rolling eyes' smiley when it's needed for the Scum claiming it was a 'random' attack? Given all the hatred they have stoked with a series of lies, no wonder they're reporting it as that …

Anecdotal speculation, of course, is a poor substitute for factual evidence but I guess until we hear more about events that's all we have and in the meantime that leaves us free to speculate as we see fit on an open message board without any need for anyone to try and take the moral high ground.

Blackpool not as nice and pleasant as the Strictly videos would have you believe everyone friendly saying hello etc. There is a dark side to the place, like anywhere.

You don't have to provide evidence, the person asking for it is perfectly capable of using google.

The office for national statistics would disagree with you Janet.

According to them violent crime reduced by 26 % in the years between 2005 and 2015.

Sadly crimes against foreign nationals and peoples of different ethnicities have increased 41% since Brexit.

Do you know if Gorka is homosexual ?

I think whilst we don't know what the motive against Gorka was, it is wrong to say without any proof it's homophobic given the fact Neil and Aliaz are not gay.

Sadly given the 41% rise in crimes against foreign nationals since Brexit it isn't unreasonable to say this was a post Brexit crime. It appears to be a fact that people who are prone to violent crime feel they have been permission to commit xenophobic attacks, starting on the morning post Brexit vote.

Indeed poor Jo Cox was murderded during the Brexit campaign.

The show has to go somewhere for one week because the usual studio is used for Children in Need. They went to Wembley Arena one year, which was just too big with the dance floor a "dot" in the middle of the arena.

I hope this gang gets caught and punished.

I wish Gorka a speedy recovery and hope his injuries can heal fully.

Blackpool couldn't look any worse

Probably some ugly buggers who were jealous did it.

Homophobic attacks have also increased sharply post-Brexit.

Whatever one's position on whether we should be in or out of the EU, the result of the referendum has certainly been interpreted as a licence to abuse by the minority of UK "deplorables".

That said, you could be punched in the face by a drunken lout simply for looking at them the wrong way on a Saturday night up and down Britain.

We don't know what happened but to snort at the possibility of it being a xenophobic attack as some have done is pure denial. It could well be. It could also be homophobic and, if it were, this also correlates with Brexit.

I hope he recovers really quickly and it hasn't put him off coming back next year.

no Gorka is not gay but they were 3 males going to a gay club - would seem to me a random attack near Flamingos would be far more likely to homophobic than xenophobic

Goka is engaged to Lauren Sheridan, so no, he's not gay.

The increase in [b]reported/B] crimes against foreign nationals since Brexit isn't proof that the number of crimes have increased, but the number of reported crimes has.

It was suggested before the vote that such crimes would be the case and this could be the reason that reports have increased rather than the crimes themselves. That's human nature. I suspect there were just as many before the vote, but most were not reported. Twitter and other social media where people can remain anonymous have shown, before Brexit, just how extreme some peoples views are and being able to stay anonymous was all the excuse they needed. I suspect that Brexit was the reason for reporting crimes.

Incidentally, at one time I worked for the Central Office of Information which was similar to the Office of National Statistics in compiling statistics for the government so I know how information is handled.

I fully agree with what Ann has said. It is a very rough area, I for one would never walk out late at night, lots of, let say, dubious and unsavoury characters hanging about. I only ever take taxi's, safer that way.

It's the going to, that has me are these thugs now psychic?

Is there an exclusion zone around the club, which now doesn't appear to be exclusively gay in any event, where all men in groups are now not allowed to walk?
Just in case they are thought to be gay?