Strictly Come Dancing fans were full of praise for pro dancer Nikita Kuzmin as he called out Shirley Ballas' comments on the BBC show.
The head judge of the BBC Latin and ballroom show criticised comedienne Ellie Taylor for her heel leads as she danced with Johannes Radebe earlier in the series. Later on, Ellie Simmonds and her partner Nikita Kuzmin took to the stage.
Whilst Ellie T received severe criticism for her heel leads, Ellie S was not given such harsh criticism by the head judge and angry fans fumed on social media over what happened. A seemingly annoyed Nikita seemed to call Shirley out as he clapped back at the judge.
Following their dance and critique, the pair headed upstairs to chat with Claudia Winkleman as Nikita took the moment to address a comment made by Shirley earlier in the programme. Comedienne Ellie Taylor was marked down by Shirley for her poor footwork.
"Just a little bit confused because Shirley said previously to Ellie T that there must be everything right with the feet in the ballroom," Nikita said as comedienne Ellie clapped in the background. His comment seemed to hint that he felt he and Ellie Simmonds had not been undermarked for their dance, despite facing the same issue with their footwork.
"NOT NIKITA CALLING OUT SHIRLEY ON HER CRITICISM OF HEEL LEADS FROM ELLIE TAYLOR AND PRAISE OF THEM FOR ELLIE SIMMONDS I am deceased #Strictly," one fan wrote.
Another added: "nikita calling out shirley has made my night, with a third writing: "Ooop not Nikita calling Shirley out #strictly."
"Yes Nikita! Calling out the contradictions over heel lead comments. Both Ellies receiving conflicting comments on it this week. Finally the judges have been caught out," a fourth frustrated fan shared online.
Swimmer and Olympic star Ellie Simmonds danced a Quickstep to Peppy and George from The Artist with Nikita, whilst Ellie Taylor and Johannes did a Cha Cha Cha to The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) from Mermaids.
Ellie and Nikita received 27 points for their Quickstep, whilst Ellie and Johannes received 21 points and found themselves towards the bottom of the leaderboard alongside Matt Goss and Nadiya, who also had 21 points, and Tony Adams and Katya with 18 points.
*Strictly Come Dancing's result show airs on Sunday evening on BBC One.
