05 November 2023 , 12:07
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Furious Strictly fans have accused the judges of scoring contestants badly to keep Angela Rippon in the show for Blackpool.
Suspicious viewers slammed the panel for treating the audience like they're "stupid" after ex-Emmerdale star Adam Thomas came in second from the bottom on the leaderboard last night. After scoring 27 points for his Amerian Rumba, the Waterloo Road actor came just after former broadcaster Angela, who scored 28 for her waltz in the BBC dance competition.
But while Angela is benefitting from the scoring, fans have speculated that the other contestants are knocked down the leaderboard unfairly, with some suggesting the judges are "scared" to criticise her.
A Strictly source has denied "conspiracy theories" about Angela Rippon are true (BBC)One fan wrote on X: "Fully agree with Motsi that Angela R’s dances are too safe. I feel like the judges are too scared to say certain things about Angela’s performances." Another fumed: "There's no point the judges gasping in shock. If they'd scored Angela Rippon properly Adam would've been higher up the table and might've swerved the dance-off." While someone else was livid, commenting: "Do they think we are stupid? 'Oh they've rumbled our high scoring of Angela!' So! We'll mark her down to proper scores, reduce the scores of Adam as crap so that he'll go and keep Angela in!"
Strictly reps declined to comment, but a show insider told Mirror Online: "All of the judges are hugely experienced individuals who judge on dance and dance alone in the main show and in the dance-offs. Any conspiracy theories suggesting otherwise are simply untrue."
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It's not the only bugbear viewers had over the judges last night, with some accusing Anton Du Beke of being too "picky ", and Shirley Ballas of being "rude". Taking to social media, some fans of the show thought the 63-year-old was "dismissive" as Anton critiqued Layton Williams ' jive.
Were the Strictly judges right to save Angela Rippon in the dance-off? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.
While Anton was serving up his opinion of the West End star and his pro partner Nikita Kuzmin's performance, Shirley was delighted, giving the actor and trained dancer a perfect 10. She didn't disagree with her colleague's comments on Layton's kicks, suggesting he was too "heavy" towards the end.
Motsi Mabuse also gave him top marks, while Craig Revel Horwood gave the dance an eight. But after Anton and Craig explained their scores, Shirley could be heard in the background saying he was "nitpicking".
One angry viewer accused her of speaking out of line, writing on X: "Shirley moaning that Anton is ‘nit picking’ after spending last week saying 'watch it back' for mistakes. #Strictly". Another said she shouldn't have gone about it the way she did, adding: "Layton is good but has been good since week 1. Quite rude of Shirley to be dismissive of Anton and Craig's comments. Gawd forbid they did the same to her."