Bristol Strictly star Jayde Adams has hit back at trolls who described her performance as that of a ‘heavy footed obese lesbian.’ The Bristolian comedian took to the floor with dance partner Karen Hauer last night (Saturday) to perform the Charleston to late comic Victoria Wood’s ‘The Ballad of Barry and Freda.’
But her performance, wearing a colourful shirt and a pair of blue dungarees, prompted an acid response from one Twitter user Jon Lake who accused judges of discrimination when it comes to scoring. “Why do the judges on @bbcstrictly give more points to @jaydeadams heavy footed stomping than to @TonyAdamd and @Mrs_katjones actually dancing?," tweeted Mr Lake.
“Are they trying to hard to be PC and nice to the obese lesbian while it’s ok to discriminate against ageing white males?” Jayde, 37, who is the first heterosexual on the show to choose a same sex partner, quickly responded to the tweet and posted: “Calling all obese lesbians: get your votes out for da ladz #Strictly
The tweet prompted a wave of Twitter love for Jayde. Eadie tweeted: “Lesbian with a muffin top here, voted twice for you cos you both made me laugh and I think Victoria Wood would have loved it too.”
Carly W added: “My very obese very bisexual self has voted for you here!! “ JoFlo tweeted: “It was a great tribute to the amazing Victoria Wood.
"If she was watching, she'll be voting for you, along with the people who know all the words. You go girl.”
By Becky tweeted: “I’m neither obese nor a lesbian but I do utterly adore you and you’ve got my vote! “ Jill Burns tweeted: "You got the vote of this very short very obese pansexual but my wife voted for @TonyAdams.
"That’s just the way we roll. We vote for who we like, the dances we enjoy and nothing to do with gender or perceived sexuality." The judges were also split on Jayde’s performance despite her starting the routine singing at a piano - in a nod to her childhood hero Victoria Wood.
Jayde and her partner Karen were given a score of 28 out of 40, placing them 9th on the leaderboard out of the 12 remaining contestants. During Saturday's show Judge Craig Revel Horwood told her the performance was ‘throwaway’ and that "it wasn't very clean".
"You need double that amount of energy for this dance to keep it solid and going. For me, it wasn't great. Sorry," he added.
Other judges were more positive about the performance. Head judge Shirley Ballas said: "You are a comic and now you can sing - that is amazing! It was so entertaining.
"All I ask is to see no 'throwaway arms'. When Karen {Hauer] is dancing, your body still has to talk."
Motsi Mabuse thought that from a performance point of view, she is probably the best they have, but it's week five now and there needs to be more dancing. Anton Du Beke said he liked the number and enjoyed it.
To find out if Jayde is safe and gets to stay in Strictly for another week, tune into the results show which airs on BBC1 tonight (Sunday) at an earlier time of 6.45pm.
Read next:
- Case against Bristol cyclist prosecuted for filming driver on phone is dropped
- 'I Am Judah' documentary film about the Tasering of Judah Adunbi sells out premiere in Bristol
- Police shut down Southmead house that was a 'non-stop drug store'
- Bristol cop suspended for alleged assault and telling colleague to "go back to your own country"
- Avon and Somerset Police fines uninsured drivers £12.5million in 10 years
