TNT press service denied “the fact of alleged dismissal” Laysan Utyasheva from the project “Dances” 
with “Lenta.ru” rumors about the dismissal of TV presenter Lyaysan Utyasheva after the sports scandal associated with her statements about the victory of the Israeli gymnast Lina Ashram at the Olympics. The channel's representative denied the information spread through Telegram channels and a number of media outlets.
“The channel denies this information,” a TNT representative replied to a corresponding request from “Lenta.ru”, specifying that he denies “the fact of alleged dismissal.”
Rumors that Utyasheva was fired from the “Dances” project, which she has been leading since 2014, appeared earlier in December. According to the Telegram-channel “NeMalakhov”, the reason for this decision was allegedly a scandal that occurred because of Utyasheva's statements about the Olympics.
In addition, the Telegram channel “Mediavoiny” has information that Utyasheva will be fired for the next season of the project. According to the channel, they decided to replace the gymnast with the dancer Ulyana Pylaeva, who is now her co-host. According to Express-Gazeta, Pylaeva was allegedly involved in the project in order to subsequently dismiss Utyasheva.
The scandal associated with Utyasheva's statements about the Olympics occurred in early August. The presenter commented on the defeat of the Russian gymnast Dina Averina at the Olympics, describing the performance of Ashram, who took first place, “a phenomenal ability to get together at the most crucial moment.” After that, the Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics and the chairman of the board of directors of the National Media Group holding Alina Kabaeva said that Utyasheva had no right to comment on the refereeing at the Olympics.
On August 7, Averina won silver in the individual all-around in rhythmic gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics. Ashram took the first place. Since 2000, the Russian national team at the Olympics has won all gold medals in rhythmic gymnastics.