Strictly pro James Jordan has hit out at the judges and branded their scoring of some celebrities a “mockery”.
James is no stranger to sharing his opinions on Strictly Come Dancing – which he left in 2013. He often tweets live during the shows on Saturday nights, offering his honest opinion on the performances.
Many fans have even begged for him to become a judge on the show! This series, James has been sharing his thoughts on Hello!‘s Strictly the Truth podcast.
And following this weekend, James had some harsh words for the judges.
Strictly judges slammed for scoring
Speaking on the podcast episode, James discussed actor Nigel’s performance with pro dancer Katya Jones. They dance a foxtrot to I Just Want To Make Love To You by Etta James.
The judges gave him a score of 29 out of 40. Shirley Ballas gave him seven, Craig Revel Horwood awarded seven while Motsi Mabuse gave him seven.
You might think you can pull the wool over the public’s eyes, but you can’t.
Anton Du Beke issued them eight out of 10.
However, during his routine, Nigel suffered a mistake. After the scores were revealed, Nigel joked to Claudia Winkleman: “I think we should go wrong more often.”
James Jordan’s verdict
James said on the podcast: “It’s nonsensical… I’d love to sit in front of the judges and say, can you justify that to me? Justify it to me, because you might think you can pull the wool over the public’s eyes, but you can’t. They’ve been watching it for 20 years! They know what’s right and what’s wrong. They’re not stupid.”
He added: “[Nigel and Katya] go up to Claudia’s room. He knows he’s messed up. He’s apologising to Katya at the end of the routine, bless him. I feel gutted for him. I didn’t want them to go wrong, but you’ve got to mark what you see. They went up, they got their scores.
“He turned to Claudia and went, ‘Wow, we should go wrong more often!’ Even he’s laughing at what the judges have scored him. Even he thinks it’s a mockery. It’s a mockery! It makes a mockery of the judges sitting there. There’s no point in them sitting there. Let’s get rid of the judges and just let the public vote for who they want to because they didn’t do their job.”
In addition, James said the judges were “supposed to be marking a foxtrot and they gave it seven, eight and he did no foxtrot moves correctly”.
He branded the scoring “really bizarre”.
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Viewers seemed to love the routine as one gushed on Saturday night: “Can’t get enough of Nigel and Katya, you are absolutely captivating to watch!”
Meanwhile, another added: “Lots of AMAZING performances but my personal favourite was from Nigel and Katya. Chose them as my favourites from the start!”
Strictly continues on Saturday from 6.40pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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