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Shirley Ballas laughs at Strictly ‘fix’ claims as she reveals computers went down in technical blunder
Shirley has dismissed the controversial glitch as 'live TV'
SHIRLEY Ballas has laughed off "fix" claims and revealed that a technical blunder occured when Strictly Come Dancing's computers went down during last night's live episode of the show.
The BBC One dance competition was thrown into chaos when the tablet that Shirley uses to read out the celebrities' scores froze - forcing producers to hand them over on a piece of paper.
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In the wake of the blunder, Shirley dismissed the drama as "live TV" as she posted a photo of herself in a glam monochrome gown to her Twitter page last night.
She captioned the snap: "Hysterical, computers went down, well that's live TV, amazing show this evening.
"@DarceyOfficial @BrunoTonioli @CraigRevHorwood great team. Thank you to all who tuned in."
The furore began after the celebs and their professional dance partners took part in a "Lindy-hopathon" - giving the stars the opportunity to win up to seven bonus points for the leaderboard.
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Announcing the scores, Shirley went to read off her tablet - only to see that the device wasn't working.
She said: "After an amazing performance, and thank you all for that, I've conferred with my fellow adjudicators...
"Hold on we've lost the board."
Craig Revel Horwood then passed across a piece of paper that a producer had given to him with the celebrities' scores - with Shirley announcing that Ashley Roberts had won seven points.
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However, the scores were supposed to be read from lowest to highest, with Darcey Bussell whispering to the head judge to read the results from the bottom.
Apologising for the mishap, Bruno Tonioli said: "We apologise the board went all berserk so we have to read off the paper.
"So we start on seventh place. Sorry."
But the drama was far from over, with Shirely then incorrectly announcing Charles Venn's professional partner as Dianne, instead of Karen Clifton - and Karen being accused of giving the judge a "death stare".
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Viewers were quick to take to social media to accuse the challenge of being a "fix", with one writing: "What a fix, how did the judges who supposedly made the decision not know who they placed where?"
Another added: "What the f***, she told Ashley she was first before she even read of the paper - F***ING FIX!"
However, a Strictly spokesperson clarified the confusion in a statement, explaining: "Once the judges had scored the Lindy-hopathon, the marks were successfully electronically recorded on a tablet and fed to the gallery who received an accurate record of the judges marks.
"When Head Judge Shirley had to read the marks out live on air, the tablet she was reading from malfunctioned and went blank so she was unable to read out the final order."
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