Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas caught up in scoring row as angry BBC viewers lash out

Shirley Ballas has found herself at the cenre of a huge Strictly Come Dancing scoring row, qwith angry viewers lashing out at the head judge for her scores and comments on Saturday night.

Having replaced late Strictly legend Len Goodman as head of the BBC show's panel, Shirley has been in the role ever since; having had years of dance experience and world championships behind her. However, while plenty of Strictly fans appreciate Shirley's expertise and in depth knowledge on dance genres, she has now come under fire on numerous occasions now for her critiques, particularly those directed at some of the female contestants.

And it was when giving her feedback to Sarah Hadland for her latest performance during Saturday's live show, that Shirley first landed in hot water with some viewers watching at home. Just a week earlier, the head judge told Pete Wicks she wasn't going to 'dwell' on the obvious mistakes he made in his Freddie Mercury number for Icons Week; yet what it came to Sarah, she went into great detail over some of the things that the Miranda star didn't get right in her American Smooth, as several members of the studio audience booed.

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After awarding Sarah an 8, Shirley then felt the wrath of more critics when she gave ex TOWIE favourite Pete 10 for his Couple's Choice, having admitted that she was close to tears at the moving routine he dedicated to his late nan. While not taking any issue with the fact that the performance, which clearly meant a lot to Pete, was his best so far, some fans could not believe Shirley gave it a 10.

Taking to X to complain, one viewer ranted: "Can we talk about how Shirley can give 10 to Pete and an 8 to Sarah?" as another blasted: "It’s all a fix!! Absolute joke… they give 10’s out which aren’t deserved….. just a big fix and Shirley’s the worst, double standards!" Sharing a clip of Sarah and Vito's dance to highlight their point, a third reacted: "How Shirley gave this a 8 and Pete a 10 is just beyond bizarre"