Strictly Come Dancing 2025: La Voix's Cha-cha-cha branded 'a complete mess' by former show pro in brutal blow
Shirley Ballas gave La Voix a score of just 2 on the night
Strictly Come Dancing contestant La Voix “deserved a 1” for her Cha-cha-cha, according to ex professional Vincent Simone.
The drag artist donned a lipstick-red mane for hers and Aljaž Škorjanec boxing-themed dance to Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot.
The results were catastrophic, leading to a score of two from judge Shirley Ballas and a collective 14.
Now former Strictly pro Vincent, who competed on the show between 2006 and 2012, has had his say on the dance.
Asked if he’d have mirrored Shirley’s score for La Voix, Vincent exclusively told TVGuide on behalf of Paddy Power: “Definitely. Unfortunately, their performance was disappointing.
“La Voix is a stage performer – she’s used to having an audience, she’s full of confidence – but that dance was a complete mess. As Shirley Ballas said, there was nothing to judge.
“Honestly, I might have even given it a one.” And we thought Shirley was brutal…
Shirley Ballas’ takedown of La Voix
Shirley was almost left dumbfounded when giving La Voix (real name Christopher Dennis) and Aljaž her feedback last Saturday.
“If I am perfectly honest I wouldn’t be able to judge that at all,” she admitted. You could hear a pin drop after that opener.
“I can’t say that you need more flexibility. I can’t say you would need this because you never got off to a good start from the beginning, so I feel it would be unfair of me to even sort of say ‘you need this’ and ‘you need that’.
“You just had one of those days, but we love you.”
She then scored La Voix and Aljaz a two. Craig Revel Horwood lifted his ‘3’ paddle, while Motsi Mabuse awarded them four. Anton Du Beke gave a healthy five. This gave the pair a combined total of 14, leaving them bottom of the leaderboard by a hefty 10 marks.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Shirley did compliment La Voix’s “gorgeous pair of pins”.
What did Vincent think of Week 4 overall?
Italian dancer Vincent also weighed in on Week 4 head judge Craig’s decision to eliminate Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova. They were up against Balvinder Sopal and Justin Caillon in the latest dance-off.
“I think Craig made the right call,” he shared. “Chris and Balvinder shouldn’t have been in the bottom two to begin with, but Balvinder’s performance had a lot of content.
“Using the skirt properly, as Shirley mentioned, takes real skill – the arm positions, elbows, timing, and musicality all have to be perfect. She handled it well.”
On how EastEnders actress Balvinder can avoid her third successive dance-off, Vincent simply urged her to “keep going”.
“Balvinder is honestly doing everything she can. The number she did this week was strong – they looked amazing together,” he commented.
“I’ve been there myself – when I danced with Rachel Stevens, we ended up in the bottom two even after scoring high. It’s upsetting because sometimes it’s just down to the audience. This year there are so many different personalities, and everyone has their favourites, so someone ends up left behind. But Balvinder keeps surprising me.”
And finally, the star also concurred with the judges’ scoring of Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in Week 4. Gladiators’ Nitro and partner Karen Hauer earned 26 for their Rumba.
“I wasn’t wowed this week,” Vincent reflected on the overall standard of dancing. “Everything felt a bit too average across the board. Usually that happens halfway through the series, not this early. It just felt a bit wishy-washy from everyone, including Harry.”
