Shirley Ballas joined the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel at the beginning of the new series, taking over from Len Goodman. With over forty years' experience behind her, first as a professional dancer and then as judge and coach, you'd think there would be no questioning her credentials but some viewers have called her out for over scoring some contestants.
During Movie Week in early October she awarded a three to Ruth Langsford and her partner Anton du Beke and then a four to Rev. Richard Coles and his partner Dianne. Many watching at home disagreed with her scores, feeling that Ruth's performance was the stronger, and therefore should have received the higher score.
Ballas responded to these complaints, telling the Sun, "I have been an adjudicator all my life. People are judged against themselves and not against each other. Every journey is a different one. In some ways I love the viewers but they’re not ballroom dancers. Some of them are and they have great constructive criticism. But it doesn’t matter if you like one thing because someone is always going to like the opposite of what you like and that’s OK, it’s what makes the world go round."
Strictly fans are certainly a passionate lot but it sounds like Shirley is well able to defend herself.
