Strictly star wades into fix row as he brands Layton a ‘professional’ and slams judges’ scoring of fan favourite
ONE former Strictly star has waded his way into the ‘fix’ row when critiquing this year’s dances.
On the 2023 instalment, BBC producers have already faced allegations of favouritism behind the scenes.
But now, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole, 47, has given his two cents on the current state of the competition.
Last weekend Leyton Williams, 29, came top of the leaderboard scoring 39 points for his salsa.
Just behind them was former Corrie star Ellie Leach, 22, who was given a score of 37 by the judges.
This was only two points behind as Motsi Mabuse, 42, rated her Paso Doble with the most available amount of points.
Despite her best efforts, Brendan said he was surprised by the scoring as Layton has the advantage of previous dance training.
He told Sky Bingo: “I don’t think you can compare Ellie and Layton, one is a professional performer and one is learning to dance.
“I was surprised she got the 10 from Motsi, good for her, it’s always nice to receive a 10 and get a little boost. It was a great number, very powerful with great lighting.
“Paso’s [Pasodoble] are always powerful and dramatic and when you get certain dances that are powerful and dramatic and if you pull them off they look great.
“They started standing up on the platform, with massive lightening and a big skirt, he’s [Vita Coppola] wrapping around her dancing with her skirt while she is standing still.
“It looks fantastic, but the reality is she’s standing there holding the skirt out. Once she started dancing it was a good number, it wasn’t brilliant, but it was a good number.”
He also blasted the judges, particularly Craig Revel Horwood, 58, for their “harsh” marking of Angela Scanlon‘s last number.
She was given a score of only 28 for her American Smooth, but he thinks she deserved better, particularly as other stars “messed up” their moves.
“She’ll definitely keep up with the rest of the celebs because I think she’s actually better than the rest of them in many respects,” he explained.
“I think she’s doing what is being asked of her and she’s really lovely to watch. I don’t think her number on Saturday was unattractive or bad in any way… She really didn’t get the praise she deserved.
“It wasn’t a 10 but it wasn’t a 6! Craig gave the performance a 6, which is harsh.
“Giving a nine to Ellie [Leach] and six to Angela when they weren’t that far apart from a dancing ability.
Bobby [Brazier] got a seven and they messed up the fleckle completely and Bobby looked like he was wearing his PJs.”
He added: “I hope that next week they do something really amazing. She’s one of my favourite competitors on the show, and probably one of the best signings for a long time.”