Reigning Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas, 64, has voiced her pet peeve with contestants.
The Queen of Latin opened up about how some celebrity hopefuls have let her down on the show, while talking to JLS star JB Gill, 38, on Saturday’s show. The musician has just performed a pasa doble with his partner Lauren Oakley, set to the song Requiem for a tower.
The judges were all blown away by his dancing skills, and scored him an almost-perfect 39. “I love to see it JB, when I can actually see an improvement and you have saved it for the final. You brought everything to that,” Shirley said of the impressive performance.
She then revealed: “My criticism in the past for Paso Dobles is that they tend to have the celebrity stand there, while the professional does all the work.” Shirley made it clear that JB and Lauren weren’t guilty of the offence, telling the pro dancer, “You, young lady, had him starting out from the very beginning. You had him rotating, turning, he was in shadow. You did everything that one loves to see in a Paso Doble, and plus took a risk with the cape, which you executed perfectly. You went up a gear. Well done.”
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PA)Alongside winning over Shirley with his pasa doble, former X Factor competitor JB even managed to get a full 40 points for his second dance, a salsa set to the upbeat track Red Alert by Basement Jaxx. JB performed so well that Craig gave him a handshake - with the judge playfully mocking Great British Bake Off’s Paul Hollywood in the audience.
While Shirley made her high standards clear in sharing her dig with JB, some fans at home think that she might be judging unfairly. Viewers have claimed that she’s being too generous with The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks, and took to Twitter on Saturday to complain about her compliments towards him. "You are Mr Strictly Come Dancing. You are what this show is about. Everybody at home, all the parents, will be sitting there and thinking, 'if Pete can do it, I can do it' and you will inspire people to go to the dance studio.
"You had no experience whatsoever coming in. I thought you did a very good job on your footwork and your neckline.... week one you were like this and today you were shining. You didn't make any mistakes, you did a grand job. You should walk with your head high - you are absolutely Mr Strictly Come Dancing." Shirley told him on Saturday, going on to award him the highest mark of all the judges - nine out of 10 - giving him a total of 32 out of 40.
On Twitter, one fan raged: "Shirley calling Pete ‘Mr Strictly Come Dancing’ when he shouldn’t even be in the semi finals in the first place…" with a second agreeing: "Shirley acting like Pete is God’s gift to dancing and giving him a bloody 9." A third said: "Shirley giving that a 9?? I’ve defended her all series but scoring that the same as JB and Sarah? Please…"
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