Strictly stars accused of cheating after sneaking in extra rehearsal before Saturday’s live show

STRICTLY’s stars have already thrown cheat claims around backstage after some celebrities had a sneaky extra rehearsal.

A few of the contestants – including Ed Balls – took to the stage at Elstree Studios after Friday night’s show to practice their moves before their turn on Saturday.

It meant they had a total of four runs on the dance floor- one more than the three run-throughs the six who competed on Friday had.

An insider revealed: “This year is so competitive that they’re already claiming that some are being unfair and getting an advantage.

“Ed was straight on the floor after the cameras stopped rolling to go through his moves before he performed his waltz on Saturday.

“Athletes talk about small gains and little advantages so they weren’t happy it was a level playing field. They’re not supposed to do it, but producers aren’t that strict.”

Although there was no elimination this weekend, their scores will be added to next week and count towards whether they survive.

Meanwhile Saturday night’s nine celebrities were left complaining judge Craig Revel Horwood gave them harsher scores than the previous night.

The notoriously mean judge’s lowest scores on Friday were fives.

But he seemed to have regained his nasty streak on Saturday after he gave Melvin Odoom a four – sparking claims producers had told him to be less kind.

Head judge Len Goodman even commented: “I don’t know what’s happened to Craig? He was so positive last night I thought the boy’s turned a corner. But suddenly the nasty person came out.”

Ore Oduba, 29, Greg Rutherford, 29 and Judge Rinder, 38, impressed the judges on Friday night. Hollyoaks hunk Danny Mac, 27, showed off his West End experience on Saturday.

A BBC source said: “They’re not allowed to have more rehearsals than they are supposed to but the pro-dancers are so competitive that they will do anything to get a slight advantage.”