Strictly Come Dancing judges accused of 'deliberately fixing results' ahead of Lewis Cope's exit
Lewis and his partner Katya were voted out of Strictly on SundayStrictly Come Dancing‘s judging panel has come under fire from a former show pro who has accused them of ‘fixing’ the results last weekend.
Ian Waite, who worked on Strictly for seven years, has described the judges’ scores as “very cloak and dagger”.
It comes after George Clarke and Alexis Warr, Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon, and Lewis Cope and Katya Jones all finished with 35 marks.
Ian has suggested the joint three-way tie was a ‘deliberate’ ploy to ensure Lewis and Katya were in the dance-off with Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.
Ian, speaking in connection with Zingo Bingo, has described the show as a “popularity contest”. He believes sparking a tie meant the least popular dancers with the viewers ended up in the dance-off.
Strictly Come Dancing results slammed by ex pro
Giving his opinion, Ian said: “I just think that it’s interesting that these things happen when the judges draw three people on the leaderboard. If the judges hadn’t done that, then you wouldn’t have had those two good dancers (Amber Davies and Lewis Cope) in the bottom.
“You might have had one of them in the bottom, but you wouldn’t have had both of them in the bottom. It makes you think if there is something else going on – it’s just very cloak and dagger.”
Ian continued: “It’s an unfortunate situation that that is what happened. I’ve seen it before where couples draw, and that when the debate about the public vote comes in.
“There’s been a lot of cases where the best dancers are voted off because of the public vote, and that happened again at the weekend with Lewis.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me and perhaps the producers need to address the balance, because it becomes more of a popularity contest than a contest based on skill, and the couples that are popular will always have an advantage.
“It doesn’t balance it out because you’re never going to have three couples getting the same public vote, are you?”
TVGuide has contacted the BBC for comment.
Who is left in Strictly Come Dancing?
Lewis and Katya were sent home by the judges following their dance-off with Amber and Nikita on Sunday. Lewis’ partner Katya is particularly upset by their quarter-final exit.
There are now four couples left to battle it out in this weekend’s semi-final. They are George and Alexis, Balvinder and Julian, Amber and Nikita, and Karen Carney and Carlos Gu.
There is no theme this week and all the dances and songs have been confirmed already.
Ian competed in Strictly from 2004 to 2009 and he describes the current format as a “production”.
He also said: “They decide exactly what dances you’re doing all the way through. Now it’s very different than how it was when I was on Strictly.
“When I was on Strictly, it was just the dance. You were given a dance and the professional had to do all the choreography.”
Ian added: “The professional’s involvement is just that little bit of choreography in the middle. Everything else is sorted for you already, which actually makes it a lot easier because when you’ve got all the bells and whistles going on around you.
“You’re going to look much better, aren’t you? But it’s great.”
Read more: Strictly star Karen Carney’s dance past defended by pro: ‘It can work against you’
