Signs of possible tension between the Strictly Come Dancing judges showed on screen over the weekend, body language expert Judi James says.
Helen Skelton and Gokra Marquez's performance on Saturday evening [October 1] sparked 'warfare' between judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke as they were in a 'body language battlefield' after the pair's Cha Cha Cha dance.
The divide has potentially widened on Sunday evening as judges casted their votes to save one celebrity and professional pairing from elimination - with Loose Women presenter Kaye Adams the first celebrity to be voted off the BBC series, despite head judge Shirley admitting she would have saved her over Matt Goss.
Discussing the weekend's action with the Mirror on Monday [October 3], body language expert Judi explained how Shirley's body language during the elimination was very telling, and went on to suspect possible backstage tension may be the reason behind the head judge's clash with Craig on Saturday night.
"I don't know what's going on with Shirley this season," Judi admitted as she analysed the star's body language during Sunday night's elimination.
"She's started to get into some scraps with Craig. The pointed finger may not feel like a weapon but it is."
Judi went on to explain how Shirley's admission she would have saved Kaye over Matt was the star's way of implying 'the others weren't right in their decision' to vote the Loose Women star off in the second week.
"She is now the only judge that is right. She looked like a headmistress. She looked very strict as she delivered that," Judi mused to the Mirror. "I'm not quite sure where she is going this season but I think it's going to be interesting.
"I love a spat between the judges - they're usually fake but I think there's a few proper rifts there this season."
Judi went into more detail about her suspicions, adding: "I hate to say it is, because what's usually so good about Strictly every season is the body language is so fake it's pantomime.
"It's fake smiles, fake tears, fake tan... you always get this pantomime stuff between the judges because they love the attention but I really felt that argument was getting quite real."
The body language expert continued to claim she had never seen 'Craig looking quite so angry' during Saturday night's clash, adding: "Between him and Shirley, it was quite strange with Shirley wagging her finger and Motsi dancing between the pair.
"I felt some of that was real. I'm going to be watching them, I think a genuine rift is going on there. Something's got up someone's nose and I will get to the bottom of it."
* Strictly Come Dancing continues this Saturday on BBC One
