Strictly Come Dancing: Anthony Ogogo Exits, Calls Out Other Celebs’ Previous Dance Training

Anthony Ogogo became the second celebrity to be voted off ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, and he wasn’t leaving without a fight. Fighting talk, that is.

The boxer drew attention to some of his fellow celebrities’ past dance experience, vocalising what a lot of viewers have complained about too.

Copyright [BBC/Guy Levy]

Although Carol Kirkwood was below both of them on the judges’ leaderboard, Anthony was in the bottom two with Ainsley Harriott on Sunday night results show, and all four judges chose to save the chef.

And Anthony had a few words to say about those judges: “I do think the judges were quite critical of me, quite harsh with me. I think from the get-go, from the first week I think I was scored quite harshly. I’m not a dancer, I’ve never danced before – but I was trying my absolute best, and week one I had a jive which is a really, really difficult technique, a difficult routine. And they just criticised.”

Copyright [BBC]

The boxer, who was not only a complete novice but was also sporting a shoulder injury, also called out the other contestants who have, in fact, “danced before”, adding: “I think when you’re up against Jay McGuiness, who’s done ballet, and Helen George who’s done ballet, and Peter Andre who’s been a pop star – it’s very, very hard to compete with those guys.”

Some may think this sounds like sour grapes, but there are plenty of ‘Strictly’ fans who also have something to say about celebs with previous dance training, and many who think that all of the contestants should be complete beginners.

There were a fair few people up in arms last year when Caroline Flack won ‘SCD’ after her childhood dance experience was revealed.

Copyright [BBC]

And this weekend, following his uh-may-zing jive, Jay McGuiness faced some backlash on social media after his dance training was revealed.

Former ‘Big Brother’s Bit On The Side’ host, Jamie East, shared a screenshot on Twitter of Jay’s wikipedia page that said: “At the age of 13, McGuiness went to Charlotte Hamilton School of Dance.”

Fans leapt to Jay’s defense, pointing out how young The Wanted singer was when he attended dance school. And there’s an argument that ballroom and Latin dancing is quite a different skill from other styles, so even if you’ve had classes in ballet, tap or whatever, you aren’t necessarily at an advantage.

It’s good to see the ‘Strictly’ spirit of controversy is still alive and well, at least.