Claudia Winkleman chats to Strictly judges
Strictly Come Dancing’s third week had many talking points as the celebrity cast and professional dancers performed their hardest in a bid to avoid being the first out of the competition.
While all pairings gave it their all, sadly Les Dennis became the first contestant to leave the show following a dance-off with Nikita Kanda.
Speaking after the judges’ unanimous decision, he said alongside dance partner Nancy Xu: “I’ve had the best time, this lady has been amazing, a great teacher, she’s really put me through my paces.
“I did as well as I could for you, I hope! That lot up there [the other contestants] I’m going to miss you so much. I really appreciate and understand the judge’s point of view, absolutely.”
The decision came after his Samba score of 15 put him and Nancy at the bottom of the leaderboard, while Nikita and Gorka Marquez were third from the bottom with 18 points.
Read More… Les Dennis speaks out on co-star’s tragic death hours after Strictly elimination
At the other end of the leaderboard were theatre star Layton Williams and his pro Nikita Kuzmin, who wowed the judges with their Quickstep routine.
Their “dance of the night” received rave reviews all around and they scored a very impressive 36 points.
Second on the leaderboard were Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice with 32 points, up three points from last week.
In joint third place were duos Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola and Angela Rippon and Kai Widdrington with 31.
Meanwhile, Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer, who scored 21, were questioned by the judges over their moves in the Cha Cha.
Head judge Shirley Ballas was seen clapping as Craig Revel Horwood said their routine was more like a “streetdance” and had “no Cha Cha technique whatsoever”.
Karen appeared gobsmacked by his remark and said: “What?! I’m sorry but…” as the studio audience booed.
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Motsi Mabuse told the duo they needed to be “clearer” about their moves when wanting to try something different.
After seemingly agreeing with Craig, Shirley went on to critique Eddie on his posture and footwork, while Anton Du Beke told the pair to ignore the other judges.
Karen has since thanked fans for their support as many slammed the judges’ comments and low scoring.
Elsewhere on the night, Shirley was at the centre of another sexism row online as viewers pointed out her low scores for three top female dancers.
The head judge gave the lowest points out of all four judges for Zara McDermott, Ellie Leach and Angela Rippon.
One viewer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, wrote: “Shirley’s dislike for young women is so obvious.”
A second person commented: “Of course. Another low score from Shirley for a woman.”
A third added: “Shirley being the lowest score for the young female again.. surprise surprise.”
Shirley hit back at similar criticism last year after she favoured Richie Anderson over Fleur East in a dance-off.
Speaking on Loose Women, the head judge noted she been a victim of prejudice throughout her career herself and branded the backlash “hurtful”.
She added on Loose Women: “It’s a beautiful show, it’s there to entertain, I’m there to do a job, I haven’t got a mean bone in my body.
“You don’t have to agree with me, I don’t have to agree with the panel, they don’t have to agree with me. That’s okay. But we can still talk to each other in a human-like fashion.”
Of her decision to choose Richie over Fleur at the time, she said the complexity of his routine had impressed her more.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.20pm on BBC One.
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