Strictly Come Dancing star Katya Jones has defended the judges’ criticism of her dance partner Lewis Cope.
On Saturday night (October 4), the couple performed a Viennese waltz to Teddy Swims’ Lose Control and found themselves second on the leaderboard with a score of 27.
They managed to avoid the dreaded bottom two, despite viewers declaring him a “show off”. However, even with a high score, that didn’t stop the panel of judges from having strong opinions.
Strictly stars Katya Jones and Lewis Cope on It Takes Two
Anton Du Beke praised their dance for its “raw power”. That said, he said he would like to see a little more “refinement”.
Craig Revel Horwood also shared: “In this dance, you almost need to think like a swan… I felt your natural and reversed terms were a little bit up and down.”
Meanwhile, head judge Shirley Ballas insisted their performance was “too aggressive”.
On Monday night (October 6), the Russian dancer and former Emmerdale actor appeared on Strictly’s companion show It Takes Two. While speaking to host Janette Manrara, the pair discussed Saturday night.
On the dance itself, Lewis Cope said: “It was crazy in there, I wasn’t expecting it to blow up so much in terms of the atmosphere. I almost missed the beginning of the song. It was brilliant, I love that dance.”
‘There’s two sides to how I feel about it’
However, Katya addressed the judges’ comments, admitting she felt divided.
“I have been thinking about it a lot, genuinely. There’s two sides to how I feel about it. As a pro, I really would have loved for judges to vocalise what he did do,” she said, adding: “All the steps he spent hours and hours learning, they were there, every single Viennese Waltz Step including what he did on his own.
“On the other side, dancing is an art form. We put on this number together, the way we felt was right for us. In any art, there will be opinions of people who connect with it and those not so much.”
She continued: “We’re here to create what feels right and share it with people. Let the judges have their bit. Of course, technically, we’re still learning. It’s week two. We never compromise the dancing and that’s really important.”
This weekend (October 11), Strictly celebrates Movie Week, with the pair dancing a paso doble inspired by The Mask of Zorro.
Strictly Come Dancing airs every Saturday on BBC One.
Read more: Strictly star George Clarke overtakes Lewis Cope as new favourite to win
