Strictly Come Dancing result causes BBC backlash as judges accused of 'breaking' rules

BBC's Strictly Come Dancing  judges
-Credit: (Image: BBC)


He might have a rank outsider to win and the clear favourite to go this week, but Paul' Merson's exit from Strictly Come Dancing has caused no shortage of controversy, as this week's result has sparked a huge backlash from irate viewers at home, who have accused the judges of 'breaking' the rules.

Arsenal legend Paul will be the first to admit that he is by far the best dancer on Strictly this year and, unfortunately him, after his significant improvement last week, he ended up back at the bottom of the leaderboard on Saturday night, as he and pro partner Karen Haeur got just 19 out of 40 for their samba.

That left them two adrift of nearest rivals Punam and Gorka and, while last week's lowest scorers managed to escape the dance-off again, Paul and Karen did end up in the bottom two for a second time. The biggest surprise was that they ended up in danger alongside JB Gill and Amy Dowden, with JB the early bookies favourite for the Glitterball trophy just over a month ago.

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READ MORE:Paul Merson's Strictly Come Dancing exit fuels 'mistake' row as BBC viewers left fuming

JB got 30 for his jive on Saturday, suggesting that he would be the clear winner of the dance-off. However, as the JLS star and pro dancer Amy reprised their jive to Outkast's Hey Ya, the routine ended up being littered with some rather obvious errors, which were pointed out by three out of four judges as they cast their votes.

While he was accused of being 'behind the music' as he did his samba again, Paul didn't actually make any mistakes, yet still lost his place in the competition as all of the judges chose to keep JB in.

That was a decision that did not go down well with plenty of viewers at home. As pointed out by host Tess Daly every single week, the Strictly result is meant to be based on the dance-off alone, with the better dancer in that making it through. And, given that the same mistakes in JB's routine clocked by people watching at home were also highlighted by the judges, the panel have now been called out for an alleged 'rule break' by keeping him in at Paul's expense.

One critic blasted: "So basically the judges have saved the one that made mistakes, I'm fairly sure that's not how it works!!!" as a second viewers, in agreement, wrote: "So you get sent home even if you don’t make mistakes. JB made mistakes and stays. I thought the decision to stay was on the Dance off and the Dance off alone"

Among the many other posts taking aim at the judges, was another that read: "I'm going to say something I never thought I was going to and everyone might disagree, but I think Paul & Karen should've stayed. For me making a lot of mistakes is worse than being slightly out of time, JB really messed up his routine. I believe he should've gone."