Strictly Come Dancing judges Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke have sparked fury over their feedback to The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks.
Wicks, 36, took to the floor this Saturday alongside partner Jowita Przystal for their Tango, but after it failed to impress all viewers, many were left outraged by Ballas and Du Beke’s high scoring of the routine.
Following the performance, the TV personality admitted: “I loved it, genuinely loved it, I think it’s my favourite one so far. I enjoyed it.”
He received a score of six from Craig Revel Horwood, seven from Motsi Mabuse and two eights from Ballas and Du Beke.
The variation of comments were also vastly different, with Ballas labelling Wicks “an extraordinary performer”.
“Last week at the tower, you had a lot of fun,” the head judge continued.
Fans slammed Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke for ‘overmarking’
BBC
She went on: “What I love this week is you’ve come out and you’re absolutely focused on the job at hand.”
Meanwhile, Revel Horwood critiqued: “The footwork was a little unsure, a little unsteady.
“And the timing I thought was a little bit slow and behind and that’s only because I think you are lacking the drive that this dance needs.”
Following the scoring, viewers flooded social media with complaints about the two high-scoring judges.
Pete Wicks received a score of 29 for his Tango
BBC
One simply wrote: “Shirley overmarking”.
Another fruious viewer commented: “F*** off was that an 8. Scores are beyond a joke at this point. #strictly.”
“Knew Shirley would overmarked Pete #Strictly,” another shared.
“Of course Shirley and Anton would give Pete an 8 #Strictly,” someone else echoed.
“Of course shirley gives pete’s dance an 8 #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing,” someone else penned.
“Oh shut UP Shirley and Anton giving that an 8 #Strictly,” another posted.
Craig Revel Horwood noted some areas for improvement
BBC
“#strictly pete still Shirley favourite,” another viewer added.
However, some defended the scores, with one writing: “Normally I don’t agree with Shirley’s scoring but her scoring an 8 for Pete for just existing feels correct #strictly.” (sic)
It comes as the couple are in a somewhat tenuous position in the show, despite never having been in the dance-off.
While the public seem to have been voting for them, the duo were at the bottom of the leaderboard last week, and have faced a fresh blow for the current Week 10 show.
The complaints this week comes after fans claimed the show was ‘a fix’ in the previous episode after Wicks had sailed through to the next show.