Tension between judges on Strictly Come Dancing is becoming a distraction

Last Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing really blew the contest wide open. At this early stage in the competition, I don’t think there’s ever been such a strong cast — with only one or two dancers left who truly stand no chance of winning.

But in between some of the best performances we’ve ever seen in Week Three of Strictly, I found myself distracted by what appeared to be some very real tension on the judging panel.

This week, Strictly was quick to shut down reports that Shirley Ballas and Craig Revel Horwood are embroiled in a not-so-subtle feud, both on and off camera. It was reported that Shirley regrets giving up her casting vote — the power to decide which couple would be eliminated in the event of a tie after the dance-off.

Instead, all four judges will now rotate that power each week. As it stands, no one has yet had to use it.

But a Strictly spokesperson told Metro: ‘This story is absolute nonsense and it’s clear that the anonymous ‘source’ quoted in it has no inside knowledge of Strictly. Our judges are all on great terms and, while the casting vote is now shared between them, Shirley remains Strictly Come Dancing’s Head Judge.’

I can totally believe the claims of a feud are overblown, but even before the report emerged, I was getting agitated watching Shirley and Craig’s bickering. The tension was pretty clear to see with my own eyes.

Things really came to a head after YouTuber George Clarke and his partner Alexis Warr performed their Couple’s Choice routine to the inescapable hit of the moment, Soda Pop, from the Netflix movie K-Pop: Demon Hunters.

It was easily one of the best performances on a night full of very strong performances. George is the favourite to lift this year’s Glitterball, and it’s easy to see why: he has the natural swag and ability of someone who’s been dancing for years. He’s also just very lovely, which helps.

But it wasn’t without its flaws, as Craig rightly pointed out. Shirley said George was ‘flying like an angel’ — and he was. But Craig interrupted her and said, ‘I don’t agree with you. I think it was out of sync, a lot actually.’

The tense exchange ended with Craig tersely saying: ‘Shirley, you’re wrong,’ to jeers from the audience.

To me, they were both right. George flew like an angel but was, at times, out of sync. It deserved a very solid seven or eight to an untrained eye like mine.

But neither would let it lie. And while disagreements aren’t unusual on Strictly, and are often part of the show’s pantomime appeal, this particular moment felt below the belt.

When it came to the scoring, I couldn’t help but feel that their respective stubbornness influenced the numbers on their paddle boards. Craig punished George with a harsh six, while Shirley awarded him an exaggerated nine.

Since Strictly began, Craig has been the show’s vicious villain, guaranteed to deliver the most brutal feedback. But those days are gone. For years now, he’s been much softer and more constructive.

He told Ellie Goldstein her timing was a bit ‘iffy’ and that at times she was ‘skippy’ rather than dancing. He got booed. The other judges insisted he was wrong, but he was totally right — and doing the model a favour.

Still, he gets shut down by Shirley, the other judges, and the studio audience as if his points aren’t valid — when, more often than not, I find myself agreeing with him more than anyone else on the panel. If anything, Shirley, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse sometimes do the couples a disservice by not being as honest as Craig can be.

I have no doubt Craig and Shirley can disagree calmly. They might not be best friends, but I don’t think either of them are petty enough for a behind-the-scenes feud or especially power-hungry over the role of Head Judge.

But last week felt particularly frosty between them, and it tipped into being unpleasant — more uncomfortable than Strictly Come Dancing should ever be. They don’t need to live in harmony, and a bit of disagreement is part of the fun.

It’s not new — Craig and Shirley have always locked horns. They’re not shy about putting each other down. But for the first time, for me, the balance between drama and dancing felt off, and last week it crossed a line. It wasn’t fun to watch.

Perhaps it wasn’t helped with the unnecessary addition of guest judge Cynthia Erivo (let’s not go there again) which looked like Craig and Shirley were being kept even further apart than they’d usually be. I’m sure that’s not the case but the optics were strange. 

Maybe having an Academy Award-nominated judge on the panel encouraged Craig and Shirley to be punchier to each other than they’d normally be, hoping to impress the ‘cool new kid at school’? 

Whatever the root cause, it didn’t work. I hope this week there’s much less attention drawn to the judges and much more focus on the dancing, which truly is the strongest I think it’s ever been at this stage in the competition.

It should always be about the contestants. And last week, it felt like it was all about two judges instead.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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