Strictly's Shirley Ballas makes huge Newcastle 'blunder' on tour after missing first show
Shirley Ballas made a huge blunder right after arriving in Newcastle for the Strictly Come Dancing tour on Thursday, telling her followers on social media she was on a completely different city. And the mistake came after the show's head judge was forced to miss opening night, much to the disappointment of fans in the audience.
Having taken over from the late Len Goodman in 2017, Shirley has headed up the Strictly panel for the last seven years and fans had expected her to join colleagues Craig Revel-Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke, when the BBC programme's annual live tour arrived at the Utilita Arena on Wednesday night, having been with them for dates in Birmingham and Sheffield.
However, with just three judges seats on the set inside the arena on night one, it became apparent that not all of them were there, with it then confirmed by tour host Janette Manrara that Shirley 'couldn't be there.' While Janette didn't elaborate on Shirley's notable absence, the reason for her no show, was judging commitments for a national competition way down the other end of the country in Bournemouth.
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Shirley's absence meant that, rather than be marked out of 40 as normal, each of the couples taking part in Wednesday's live show, were instead handed scores out of 30. Normal service was resumed for Thursday's matinee, with Shirley backstage at the arena for the first of two shows.
And it was when filming a video for Instagram with Motsi that Shirley made the slip up, as she began: "Here we are, we're about to do our first show in Glasgow," with Motsi not correcting her, as a producer could be heard saying: "You're in Newcastle," off camera.
Having been corrected, Shirley added: "Newcastle, I knew that, because I just came from Bournemouth through the night after the UK championships," before ending: "Anyway, we're glad to be here."
Night one of the Strictly live tour in Newcastle was one by Sarah and Vito, on his first show back after injury; with Tasha and Aljaz finishing in second after the audience vote.