Strictly star defends Layton Williams as show is harder for 'advantaged' stars
Ex-Strictly Come Dancing finalist Karim Zeroual has defended dancer Layton Williams as fans fumed over the unfair advantage he has over his fellow contestants.
Viewers have branded the show a fix as the 29-year-old West End performer, partnered with Ukrainian dancer Nikita Kuzmin, has topped the Strictly leaderboard recently due to his dance background. The actor trained in musical theatre debuted in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2007 and has since been in various musicals such as Everybody's Talking About Jamie.
While some viewers have hit out at the dancer due to his dance experience, former contestant and TV presenter Karim, who got to the final of the show in 2019, has shown his support for Layton and expressed that dancers who aren't experienced in Latin and Ballroom dancing find the routines harder as they have to "untrain" themselves.
Karim Zeroual appeared on the show back in 2019 and has defended the West End star (Getty Images)
Strictly Come Dancing's Layton Williams has defended his past dance experience (BBC/Guy Levy)Speaking from a ballet background himself, he told Express.co.uk: "You do get it [a dance experience row] every year. It's quite hard to find someone who hasn't had any dance training, especially if they're an actor or singer or a TV presenter. A lot of people have trained at drama school and have had some sort of training."
He added: "If you have done something like jazz or ballet or tap or modern or whatever it is, sometimes you have to untrain certain things you've learned your whole life. For example, Ballroom is like parallel feet, but if you've done ballet which I did, it's all turned out. It's like untraining, so sometimes a blank canvas can be better. But of course, there are benefits with like timing and choreography and stuff."
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Layton previously said his stint on the show would be completely unlike anything he's ever had to do in his life. He admitted he'd never had to study Latin or ballroom in college, so it would be a completely different experience for him.
Speaking to The Mirror, Layton said: "Of course there's going to be moments that will feel more comfortable being in the rehearsal room and use of dancing. However, I can't stress enough how different [Strictly is]... it's like a plumber trying to be an electrician!
"It's just not the same and if anything, I'm such a perfectionist with the things that I do, when it comes to stuff that I should potentially be able to do and everyone expects me to be able to do but actually it's just sometimes unlearning.
"I don't really know yet because I've not started but come a couple of weeks, I might be like: 'Oh yeah, you're alright, I'm amazing' or 'actually you know what, can we all just cool down... because I'm not that cute!' I'm excited to learn new things, just throw me into the deep end, let's go." Layton added that he didn't study Latin or ballroom at college, saying: "So it's a whole new world!"
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