Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas criticised after she votes to eliminate Balvinder Sopal
Shirley faced backlash after last night's elimination
Strictly Come Dancing fans took aim at Shirley Ballas during last night’s results show, which saw EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal and rugby player Chris Robshaw fight it out in the dance-off.
Both Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas voted to save Chris. However, after all of the judges voted, it sadly wasn’t enough for the rugby star to book his place into week five and he was sadly eliminated.
However, as well as taking issue with his exit, fans also had some choice words for Shirley…
Strictly star Chris Robshaw eliminated
Last night (Sunday, October 19) saw Chris and Balvinder land in the bottom two. After performing their routines once again, it was down to the judges to pick who they wanted to save.
Motsi Mabuse kicked things off, opting to save Balvinder. Shirley was of the opinion that Chris should be progressing through to the next round.
“Both couples danced extremely well. Technically, I think they were on about the same level. But one couple had a little bit more degree of difficulty, and just gave a little bit of a stronger performance. So I chose to save Chris and Nadiya,” she said.
Anton Du Beke then opted to save Chris and Nadiya, leaving the deciding vote down to Head Judge for the week, Craig Revel Horwood.
Craig decided to save Balvinder and Julian, sending Chris and Nadiya out of the competition.
Strictly judge Shirley Ballas slammed by fans
Taking to social media, fans criticised Shirley for opting to save Chris, with many claiming that the 65-year-old just is “biased” against Balvinder – despite Anton also voting to kick the Suki Panesar actress out of the competition.
The backlash came after Shirley was slammed for her criticism of Bavinder’s foxtrot last week.
“Shirley Ballas does this year after year…and @bbcstrictly let her get away with it!! She needs to be axed,” one fan fumed.
“I think we should petition to make Craig Revel Horwood head judge of #Strictly from 2026. Shirley outstayed her welcome a long time ago when she became biased and overly critical towards the contestants. Craig is frank, honest, and critical but fair without showing any bias,” a third wrote.
“Shocking voting from Shirley and Anton. Chris gave his best performance, but no salsa. Balvinder was better. Dance-off should’ve been La Voix and Jimmy,” a fifth said. “You just know if Shirley was the head judge this week, Balvinder would’ve been out,” another said.
‘Craig made the wrong decision’
However, there was some support for Shirley’s decision on social media.
“Craig made the wrong decision tonight. So disappointed, Chris should have stayed,” one fan said. “Sadly the wrong result,” another wrote. “Chris was robbed – Shirley and Anton were right to try and save him!” said a third.
Others also heaped praise on the judging panel: “You four are so fabulous. Best judges ever. Such a joyous show.”
Fans fume as La Voix avoids dance-off
Aside from the Shirley complaints, viewers also weren’t happy that La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec avoided the dance-off, especially after her awful score for the week.
The star, 45, scored just 14 points for her cha cha cha. Craig gave the dance a three, Mosti gave a four, Shirley gave a two, and Anton gave a five. However, La Voix managed to avoid being bottom two, and she seemed a shocked as viewers.
“Bal was SENSATIONAL tonight. How the fudge is she in the bottom two, AGAIN?! Especially over La Voix, who scored a 2! Absolutely ridiculous. I’m so glad Bal is through, but she shouldn’t have been in the dance-off,” one fan said.
“Noo! Chris wasn’t great, but La Voix was dreadful!” another wrote.
“Love La Voix, but I was convinced she would be in the bottom two tonight. And it was warranted, sadly. It was a car crash. I’m not sure people aren’t seeing in Balvinder – I think she’s what Strictly is about and seems lovely,” a third tweeted.
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing fans all say the same thing as Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin in ‘near-kiss’
Strictly continues on Saturday, October 25 at 6.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
