‘She was playing favourites’ rage Strictly fans as they accuse judge of ‘fixing show’
STRICTLY Come Dancing fans have accused Shirley Ballas of ‘fixing’ the show.
Viewers took to Reddit after they noticed that Ellie Leach, 22, was the only finalist who hadn’t had a dance-off.
Some Reddit users felt that this was because the Corrie star and her pro partner, Vito Coppola, 31, had public support as opposed to being favoured by the judges.
They claimed that Shirley, 63, ‘played favourites’ alongside Motsi Mabuse, 42, on the show.
One user wrote: “Motsi never hid her preference for Layton and Shirley made it very clear that she was rooting for Bobby the last two shows.
“While I don’t think Craig had a favourite, he always seemed to expect more from Layton.
“During the final, I believe he wanted to give a 10 to Ellie’s showdance since he most likely had seen the rehersals and knew how good it was but couldn’t do it because of the mistake.
“But in general, he only showed favouritism towards Angela Rippon. Anton always gives positive feedback to everyone, but I think he had a preference for Ellie’s frame and technique.”
Another added: “Ellie was in the top two every week but the second and the final the judges clearly liked her dancing a great deal/ Craig got emotional about her during the final wheras he was fairly b**chy to Layton during the final despite all the talk about Layton being his favourite.
“I think for Motsi and Shirley it was more clear but they were both still appreciative of everyone and I really do think Anton is just happy to be there.”
On Saturday night, hosts Claudia Winkleman, 51, and Tess Daly, 54, announced that Ellie had won Strictly Come Dancing 2023.
The star clearly didn’t want to let her trophy out of her sight as she hugged it close to her while beaming from ear to ear as she was driven home alongside her supportive family.