Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off

Strictly: Shayne Ward speaks about his mum

Strictly Come Dancing enthusiasts said goodbye to another contestant as football pundit Paul Merson was eliminated from the competition on Sunday evening, after facing off against JLS sensation JB Gill in a tense dance-off.

The sight of JB in the bottom two stunned viewers, particularly given his decent judges' score of 30. Yet, it wasn't just the public who were taken aback.

Former Strictly professional Ola Jordan, who graced the dance floor from 2006 to 2015, has partnered with Mecca Bingo to deliver her verdict on the latest dances and she's not mincing her words.

Last week's episode saw Shayne Ward narrowly escaping elimination against Nick Knowles, leaving fans stunned. With Shayne surviving to twirl another day, all eyes were on him this weekend to see if he could recover from the crushing blow.

However, Ola was far from thrilled with his performance, candidly stating: "I didn't like Shayne's dance. I don't understand why they all praised him so much.

Ola Jordan didn't hold back in sharing her thoughts about Shayne Ward (Image: Getty Images)

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"It's almost like because he was in the bottom two last week, they all had to praise him and how amazing was and I didn't think he was that amazing."

Ola pointed out what she considered flaws in Shayne's performance, saying: "He had a bad posture, not great arms but no one mentioned that. He got a really good score but, in my opinion, he was overmarked."

Despite receiving a mix of scores including one seven and three eights for their American Smooth, Ola firmly believes Shayne and his dance partner Nancy Xu did not deserve such high markss, reports Birmingham Live.

She elaborated: "That's the only person that I didn't agree with this weekend. It's almost like they couldn't say a bad thing because he was in the bottom two last week, like let's save him from the bottom two. It was a bit like he was protected."

Shayne and Nancy earned a total of 31 for their routine (Image: BBC)

Shayne's performance landed him seventh on the leaderboard with a score of 31, just one notch above JB.

Meanwhile, BBC viewers witnessed some stellar performances as Jamie Borthwick and Montell Douglas both scored an impressive 39 for their dances.

At the opposite end, Paul found himself trailing at the bottom of the leaderboard with a mere 19 points for his dance.

Reflecting on his experience, he remarked: "It's been really good. For anybody I talk to, I would say you've got to go on this show. It's amazing - everybody. There's a Tottenham fan over there called Lincoln and even he's nice!"

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Strictly Come Dancing's Paul Merson and Karen Hauer left the competition on Sunday night (Image: BBC)

Paul was full of compliments when discussing his partnership with Karen, stating: "It's been amazing, honestly, amazing. I loved every minute of it, I've had a great teacher. She's been amazing, absolutely amazing and I couldn't wish for a better coach. I've loved every minute of it."

He joyfully concluded, "I can dance now - I've won because I can dance, I couldn't dance before and I can half dance now. It's a bonus, absolute bonus."

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday on BBC One from 6:25pm

Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off

Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off

Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off

Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off

Strictly pro reels at judges for 'overmarking' star to 'protect' them from dance-off