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Strictly’s Shirley Ballas hits back after viewers accused the judges of overmarking scandal-hit Wynne and Katya
Shirley didn't hold back on her opinion of Wynne
STRICTLY Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has slammed fans over accusing the judges of overmarking Wynne Evans and Katya Jones in the ballroom.
Wynne and Katya were the penultimate performers of the night, dancing a Quickstep to Mr Blue Sky by ELO.
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The judges were full of praise for the opera singer's fun bird-pooping routine, but viewers were not so impressed.
The routine featured Wynne getting paint on his brightly coloured outfit after sitting on a freshly painted bench.
He ended up with tissue stuck to his shoe and bird mess on his head in the final moments.
Fans were infuriated by the over-generous scoring as he ended up with 33 points and bagging two nines.
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People took to social media to express that he had been overmarked - and not for the first time.
We asked Shirley on the Pride of Britain red carpet about the claims.
The head judge told us exclusively: "It was an outstanding dance.
"I appreciate everyone's opinion and when they've been in the studio as many years as I have, 55 years, I will listen to what they say.
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"Until then, I will keep doing my thing and what I believe in.
"He was amazing!"
Strictly fans ‘calling the police’ as they slam judge’s underscoring
The duo beat off the likes of Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola, and Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu, and found themselves sitting comfortably 5th on the leaderboard.
Taking to X - formerly Twitter - one wrote: "9s for Wynne is INSANE… why do they overmark him EVERY week."
Another added: "I must be really missing something with Wynne because I think he's always overmarked. He's a lovely guy and he's doing really well but a 9? Same as Tasha? Sarah? There's no comparison for me but hey ho."
A third tweeted: "Wynne was completely over marked. Good old Strictly stitch up as usual."
Meanwhile some viewers felt the judges had been told to score Wynne and Katya highly on purpose to keep them in after the past furore.
One wrote: "9???? F*** off. Guess who @bbcstrictly are stacking the decks for. Ain’t gonna happen now. Wynne Evans needs to be gone."
Controversy began after pro partner Katya was seen live on TV physically removing the Welsh opera singer's hand from her waist.
She was seen moving Wynne’s hand away and snubbing his effort to high-five her.
The BBC’s welfare team got involved following the incident.
Katya later confirmed that she had not felt uncomfortable and no further action was taken.
Olympian Sam performed a Quickstep to Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten alongside pro partner Nikita Kuzmin.
The pair were supported by fans after something "went wrong" during the live show and cruelly undermarked by the judges.
Sam and Nikita earned 26 out of 40 from the judges, which didn't go down well with fans.
Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez only bagged 21 points and ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Paul Merson became the fourth celebrity to be eliminated from the 20th series of the competition.
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The former footballer failed to impress the judges in the dance-off against JLS star JB Gill and his dance partner Amy Dowden.
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