Zara McDermott holds back tears as Strictly fans concerned over judges' comments

23 September 2023 , 21:52

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Zara McDermott holds back tears as Strictly fans concerned over judges' comments

Zara McDermott struggled to win over all of the Strictly Come Dancing judges with her first live performance and the Love Island star failed to hide her emotions following their comments.

After performing a Cha Cha Cha with Graziano Di Prima, Craig Revel Horwood described the routine as "wooden" but, in contrast, Anton Du Beke branded Zara "one to watch".

Craig scored Zara three, Motsi Mabuse scored her a six, Shirley Ballas gave out a five as did Anton. Zara almost ended up in tears following the dance as she exclaimed to Graziano: "I'm really happy, I am over the moon with it, and doing it with you, you are the best teacher ever."

Strictly viewers were left concerned over the Love Island star's final positioning on the leaderboard as one wrote: "I was hoping Zara would be better, she was nervous for sure but really she didn't convince me #Strictly," and another said: "Craig gives Zara a Graziano a three?! What's wrong with him today! #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing."

Zara performed a Cha Cha Cha for her first dance (BBC)

Another remarked: "Zara [and] Graziano - I thought the routine was very good. I'm just concerned that there was so much of Graziano and Zara was becoming a bit of a background character #Strictly." However, one fan complained: "Zara was a bit stiff tonight for that dance and should only get 4 or 5. Mosti and Shirley are just being ridiculous because it wasn’t that great #strictly," and a fifth shared: "Weird. Zara was basically just preening and posing. There was very little dancing. She might be good but it felt like this was a routine to cover for the fact she can’t dance yet. Nothing dance imo. #Strictly."

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Meanwhile, ahead of tonight's live show, Zara opened up on her biggest challenge while training with partner Graziano. She said: "Probably trying not to get too in my own head and annoyed at myself if I get something wrong. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not professional. I think that's going to be the biggest thing for me is remembering it's okay to get it wrong, it's okay not to be good at it in the first few days.

"Especially when you're dancing with a pro like that, you're going to feel like you want to be at that level and I need to keep reminding myself that that's not my job. My job is to just do my best. I'm just quite a perfectionist and I want to be good from day one and if I'm not good at something I get quite frustrated, so it's about being kind to myself I think."

Charlotte McIntyre