Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas doubles down on 'vitriol and awful messages' amid exit row

At the core of another Strictly Come Dancing storm, Shirley Ballas has taken a defiant stance against the backlash in a new story shared on Instagram this Tuesday.

Amid fears she could leave Strictly Come Dancing, Shirley Ballas has issued another scathing response to her online trolls.

Shirley Ballas is at the core of another storm for the BBC One show after choosing to save opera singer Wynne Evans over Coronation Street star Shayne Ward during the competition's latest dance-off, aired on Sunday (November 10).

Fans of the popular show programme have since called out her decision and are even petitioning for her to be axed from the series altogether, as they have accused her of favouritism on several occasions. throughout the 2024 edition of Strictly Come Dancing.

Though she already responded to the backlash by suggesting she could leave her position as head judge behind, Shirley, 64, has decided to clap back at her online trolls, calling out "vitriol and awful messages" on her Instagram account this Tuesday (November 12).

Taking to her story from a hotel in Gibraltar, she said: "Hi everyone, I'm currently in Gibraltar for a couple of days, promoting my new book. I'm going to see the Rock of Gibraltar and all the monkeys, I'm excited about that."

Shirley then added: "But I'm mainly on today because I wanted to thank you all for reaching out with your beautiful messages. For you know, for the handful of vitriol and awful messages I got, I got thousands of supporting messages and that really made my day. So I appreciate that. Anyway, I'm looking forward to Blackpool next week."

She continued: "I shall be doing a book event at the Winter Gardens on Friday and then we'll have the competition on Saturday in the Tower Ballroom. So I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of you outside that stand and want to say hello."

Before ending her message: "But again, you know, hugs from me to you because you sure made me feel better this week. To each and every one of you that understand the show, I love you. Take care."

Following Shayne Ward and professional partner Nancy Xu's elimination, Shirley was targeted with a wave of comments on social media, notably X, with one viewer asking: "Can we start a petition to get Shirley off this show, she doesn’t even bother trying to conceal her favouritism anymore and she’s head judge?? It’s just not fair on the other contestants #strictly." Shirley, , responded: "Where do I sign lol. Night night", sparking concern among Strictly fans that she could leave the show.

This comes after disgraced dancer Graziano Di Prima broke his own social media silence, months after his exit from the programme. Taking to Instagram, the former Strictly star uploaded a moody video of himself walking on a brightly lit bridge, joined by his wife Giada Lini, as he issued a defiant message of his own alongside the footage.

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