Strictly Come Dancing fans hit out at Shirley Ballas as she insisted she would have saved Richie Anderson over Fleur East.
The radio DJ and his pro partner Giovanni Pernice took on Fleur East and Vito Coppola in the dreaded dance-off tonight, with three out of the four judges choosing to save Fleur over Richie. Craig Revel Horwood said Fleur was the "most accomplished technician" whilst Motsi Mabuse admitted it was "heartbreaking" they were both in the bottom two.
Frustrated fans hit out at Shirley for saying Richie was the better dancer of the two on the night, as they insisted Fleur's dance was much more advanced and technical. One viewer claimed they had "lost all respect" for the judge after her comments.
One viewer penned: "Shirley just lost all respect from me. She would have saved Richie for that flat-footed, zero-bounce, zero-hips catastrophe of a samba over Fleur? A joke," as another wrote on Twitter : "Wow Shirley really doesn’t like Fleur does she, glad the other judges out voted her cus Fleur shouldn’t have been in the bottom 2 anyway #Strictly."
"Got to think Shirley has a dislike for Fleur East. #Strictly," a third shared, with a fourth writing: "Shirley would have saved Richie ... I preface my comment by conceding she's the expert & I'm only a fan but Fleur's performance seemed to be on a different level to me."
A fifth wrote: "I get the feeling Shirley doesn’t like Fleur. #Strictly."
"Soooo three dancing judges agree that fleur was the better dancer in the dance off but still Shirley would have saved Richie?! His samba was non-existent!! Maybe time for Shirley to go I think #Strictly," a sixth penned.
It comes after Shirley disagreed with the three judges last week as Matt Goss and Kaye Adams faced one another in the dance-off.
In a chat with The Mirror, Judi explained how there appears to be a "strong backstage rift" between Shirley and the other judges.
"I don't know what's going on with Shirley this season," Judi explained to The Mirror 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."
"She is now the only judge that is right. She looked like a headmistress. She looked very strict as she delivered that," Judi shared.
"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."
Of Shirley's comments and reactions, Judi went on to add: "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."
*Strictly Come Dancing returns next Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One.
