Strictly Come Dancing star Ola Jordan has exclusively revealed that she thinks the BBC dance show has lost its way and needs to return to its Latin and ballroom roots.
Ola – who is married to fellow pro James Jordan – was on the series between 2006 and 2015. She left three years before the divisive Couple’s Choice dance was added into the mix. And she reckons that the introduction of the dance and various themed weeks has led to the show going off the boil…
Strictly needs to go back to basics, ex-pro says
Asked if she’s enjoying the current series of the show, Ola told Entertainment Daily she feels like “something is missing”.
She said: “I don’t know what it is – I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s because of the changes, or maybe the dancing itself isn’t quite there this year. But you look at some routines – like La Voix – and think, what is this? Maybe the music choices aren’t helping, or maybe something else is missing.”
Ola continued, hitting out at the show’s themed routines ahead of the upcoming Icons Week. She said: “I think they’re doing too many Couple’s Choices and other themed routines. Maybe they need to go back to basics and focusing on the ballroom and Latin core dances.”
‘Ellie was overmarked’
Speaking on behalf of Mecca Bingo Ola also told how she “didn’t agree” with some of the judges’ decisions this weekend.
“Lewis [Cope] and Katya [Jones] were quite high; I wouldn’t have had them that high. They were above Amber [Davies], which surprised me. Ellie [Goldstein] and Vito [Coppola] were way too high for me. George [Clarke] was below Ellie, and Vicky [Pattison] was below Ellie too, which didn’t feel right.
“I thought Ellie was overmarked. She was quite high on the leaderboard. Obviously, we have to be sensitive about what we say with Ellie – you can’t be as critical as with others, I think. So I won’t say much more about that. She is amazing, and she’s giving everything, and that’s all you can ask for,” Ola added.
Ola did wade in on La Voix though after her disaster-struck performance saw her handed a two from Shirley Ballas.
“La Voix should have been in the bottom two. It was a disaster. She was so good last week, and I don’t understand how it went so wrong this week. Shirley was right to give her a two, and she should absolutely have been in the bottom two,” she said.
A Strictly comeback?
So, as she picks apart the judges’ scores, would Ola want to replace any of them?
“No, I’m too old for that now!” she laughed. “I’d come back as a judge, not as a pro. Craig [Revel Horwood] will probably start saying to people: ‘She wants my job!’ again,” she quipped, after her comments about joining the judging panel previously made headlines!
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