Strictly star Ola Jordan hits out at 'planned' Instant Dance challenge as she claims ’they prepared for it'
The challenge didn't go down well with Ola!Strictly star Ola Jordan has slammed the Instant Dance challenge that took place on Saturday’s show (November 29).
The show’s former star, 43, who quit Strictly in 2015, has aired her grievances in a new interview.
Strictly star Ola Jordan on Instant Dance challenge
Speaking on behalf of Mecca Bingo, Ola took aim at the Instant Dance challenge that debuted on Saturday.
The challenge saw the dancers learn on the spot which dance they had to do. After getting changed into outfits they had to pick out on stage, they then had 10 seconds to plan their routine before throwing themselves into it.
Lewis Cope and Katya Jones received the highest score, bagging the highest score of six for their jive.
At the other end of the leaderboard were Karen Carney and Carlos Gu, who got one point for their cha-cha-cha.
However, Ola isn’t convinced by how spontaneous the Instant Dance challenge was made out to be.
“Now… where do I start? I just don’t like how it’s being pretended that it’s a random pick of a dance. No one saw them picking out of the hats; they were just given a dance. Funny how none of the dances were repeated; they all did different dances,” she said.
‘They know exactly what they’re doing’
Ola continued, saying: “Second thing, they all did dances they’ve already done, and it’s funny that they all did dances they were quite good at. So, is it a coincidence? No. I do not think it’s a coincidence. Next time you do it, please put it in a hat and get everyone to pick the dances they’re going to do.
“What makes me laugh is them standing in the middle of the floor going: ‘I’m going to turn you here, I’m going to spin you there’, they’ve prepared for this. They know exactly what they’re doing, so I’m sorry for spoiling it for people, but people are so gullible.”
Ola also addressed claims that Katya cheated in the challenge. The Russian dancer appeared to be signalling to Lewis that she wanted him to dive through her legs during their dance. This occurred before the allocated 10 seconds couples were given to work out their dances.
“Also, Katya ‘cheating’? How is she cheating? What, because she lifted her leg? She was stretching! She could have just been stretching. That’s rubbish.
“But notice how everyone finished on a “highlight” in every dance. Come on, I don’t want to burst everyone’s bubble, but I’ve been doing this a long time, you can’t just suddenly remember a routine like that. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they prepared for it,” she then said.
Ola brands Instant Dance challenge ‘one-off gimmick’
Ola then continued, saying: “So please, when they’re standing in the centre pretending to talk it through, it just made me laugh. Most of them don’t remember their routines even after a full week of rehearsals! Alex went wrong in her cha-cha that she’d been doing all week, and suddenly she remembers her rumba? Please.”
When asked if they should bring back the Instant Dance challenge, she said: “One-off gimmick, unless you’re going to be honest about it. Like, pick out of a hat. They suddenly ‘got’ this jive, and they suddenly ‘got’ that dance… come on. I don’t believe it. Not even one bit, so yeah, good try.”
Strictly continues this Saturday (December 6) at 6.50pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
