BBC's Strictly Come Dancing has been rocked by controversy as fans take aim at the judges for their scathing feedback, with viewers claiming an "undermarked" contestant was treated unfairly in Icons Week.
Jamie Borthwick received a rather cool reception, which ignited a flurry of complaints from viewers. One agitated fan on Reddit expressed disbelief: "I think that Jamie was awfully undermarked - what the actual f*ck? ? ! Samba is ridiculously hard and he was a million times better than everyone that's done it so far this series! They completely crushed his spirit and unfairly in my opinion!"
Another disconcerted fan remarked: "I didn't think the dance was that bad but the judges acting like he just farted in church made it seem like the routine was dreadful."
Additional comments suggested an awkward tension: "They did give off the vibe like he was their naughty son who'd just been brought home by the police for shoplifting or something lol. 'I'm not a try, just very disappointed.' So weirdly off. You'd be forgiven for thinking he'd scratched their Porsche rather than actually, um, danced pretty well? ".
Accusations of bias also emerged, with one speculation: "I do wonder if Anton has decided to take against Jamie after hearing he has a slight preference for Latin rather than Anton's beloved ballroom! "
And regarding judge Shirley Ballas' reactions, one viewer questioned the integrity of her judgement: "I thought it was odd Shirley openly batted off all Pete's mistakes but then they said Jamie's wasn't the best with no real explanation (and I'm a Pete fan) just stinks of favoritism.", reports Birmingham Live.
Another viewer commented: "The dance, once again, had minimal problems yet this time it was harshly criticised when others tonight were far weaker and got beaming praise. It's like they had to makeup some reasoning to have a pop and all they could come up with was "I didn't feel the connection" (well I might be wrong here but I don't think that our George and Pepsi were ever sh*gging in real life so I'm not sure of the issue lol)."
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"It feels like the judges are trying to contrive a rollercoaster "journey" for Jamie in order to make more interesting telly (because he's actually consistently quite decent and maybe that's too boring for them lol)? Ironically after receiving the odd 10 too many last week, he may well have been underscored tonight."
"He's far from lost his sparkle. Always gives it his all. I think if he's kept in then there'll be plenty more to come from him yet.."
