Strictly fans blast 'rude' Shirley Ballas over moment during Anton's critique

05 November 2023 , 08:52

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Strictly fans blast 'rude' Shirley Ballas over moment during Anton's critique

Strictly Come Dancing fans have blasted head judge Shirley Ballas for being 'rude' and 'dismissive' as fellow judge Anton Du Beke critiqued Layton Williams' Jive in the BBC dance competition.

Fans of the show took to social media to call out Shirley as they felt that she was being disrespectful as Anton was critical of Bad Education star Layton, who is partnered with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin. Shirley had been delighted by Layton's Jive, giving him a perfect 10 when it came to showing their scores, and was upset with Anton who felt that there was more work to be done with some of the kicks in the dance.

Anton himself had also fallen foul of the Strictly viewers, who posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they felt he had been "overly critical" of the West End star's efforts. With Shirley and Motsi Mabuse giving him top marks, Anton and Craig Revel Horwood had scored the dance as an eight.

Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke gives his critique of Layton Williams (BBC)

After Layton and Nikita had completed their show-stopping routine to Shy FX and T-Power's Shake Your Body, Anton told the actor that "it's extraordinary what you do". He went on to add: "I am watching a Jive as well, so I have to watch the Jive part a lot more closely and your Jive kicks forward and backward were exceptional, the side ones were a bit loose. And towards the end, it got a little heavy, I thought, in the Jive kicks."

With boos ringing out from the studio audience, Anton insisted that he "had to be honest" with his critique. While on X, one viewer bemoaned: What’s up with Anton. He’s been marking people with 7,8s, and 9s for just showing up. All of a sudden he’s being overly critical?"

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans blast 'rude' Shirley Ballas after spotting moment during Anton Du Beke's critique (BBC)

The ire among Strictly fans soon turned to Shirley and her speaking up as Anton and Craig explained why they thought that the dance was not perfect. One angry viewer wrote on X: "Shirley was really bloody rude commenting in the background when Anton and Craig were critiquing Layton. She can sure dish it out #Strictly"

Another agreed that the Strictly head judge was out of order for being critical of Anton's comments, posting: "Shirley moaning that Anton is ‘nit picking’ after spending last week saying 'watch it back' for mistakes. #Strictly". This was backed up with another who pointed out in a post on X: "Layton is good but has been good since week 1. Quite rude of Shirley to be dismissive of Anton and Craig comments. Gawd forbid they did the same to her #Strictly".

James Brinsford