BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans take issue with judges' feedback to 'undermarked' star

Strictly Come Dancing judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke shared their thoughts on the latest routines in Icons Week on Saturday

Some fans of Strictly Come Dancing took issue with the judges' feedback to EastEnders cast member Jamie Borthwick over the weekend.

Jamie, 30, and his dance partner Michelle Tsiakkas, 29, performed a samba to the late George Michael's Faith on Saturday night as part of the BBC show's Icons Week. They received a combined score of 31 from the judges, which placed them towards the middle of the leaderboard.

Providing feedback, head judge Shirley Ballas, 64, said: "You hit all the technical elements that one would want to see and your shadow natural roll was really lovely [...] Remember that technique is a [guide] to help you with the upper-half of your body. And I think that you're on the right track with all that. [...] Moving forward, bring everything you've got as a unit."

Anton Du Beke, 58, told Jamie: "It sort of started, went along and then ended. [...] We're at a really high level through the competition now and that was a sort of an okay dance. [...] You are a great dancer. [...] There's a lot to like but tonight wasn't your best night."

Craig Revel Horwood, 59 - who gave them a 7, with him the only judge not to award the performance an 8 - said: "I thought it was a little bit pointed. A little bit spiky. Felt you could have had a little more body rhythm in there but you have amazing rhythm as it stands in your feet and your presentation was absolutely brilliant."

Whilst Motsi Mabuse, 43, said: "I feel like you don't need to be disappointed because for me, I did see all that, but if you imagine a wave, right - a wave is always continuous. So you had all the aspects, it's just that you move, you stop, you move, you stop. But you did show the movement, you did show the basic steps, you did show your performance according to the energy of the music [...] and I think you did that really well."

It was later announced that Jamie and Michelle have made it through to the eight week of the competition, with the pair having avoided the dance-off. Jamie however later told fans in a post on Instagram that he had been "surprised" that they didn't end up in the dance-off.

Some viewers however weren't impressed with the reaction from the judges. One fan wrote on Reddit: I think that Jamie was awfully undermarked - what the actual f*ck??! Samba is ridiculously hard and he was a million times better than everyone that's done it so far this series! They completely crushed his spirit and unfairly in my opinion!"

Another agreed, responding: "Jamie was SO undermarked!! Definitely not his best dance but the technique was excellent and I think they knocked his confidence far too much." Someone else wrote: "He was only slightly under marked but it was more the criticism that was worse [...] He must be very bewildered and wondering whether or not he's any good, as he's got the judges saying one thing and doing another at any given moment and then the fans saying he's overmarked one minute and then undermarked the next."

There were also comments about the reaction to the performance on X, formerly known as Twitter, recently. One person wrote: "Jamie and Michelle have been under-marked." Others took particular issue with the feedback he received, with one fan writing on the platform: "Baffling comments and scores for Jamie. It was one of the cleanest dances of the night." Another wrote: "Was I watching a totally different dance to the judges there? I thought Jamie and Michelle were spectacular..."

Whilst someone else said: "Well I thought Jamie’s samba was brilliant. Surprised at marking." Whilst one fan said: "Jamie was really good and they're slating him!" Someone said in a post following the performance: "I thought Jamie was much better than they said." Sharing their thoughts, another said: "Baffled by the judges comments for Jamie and Michelle, like wtf. They did brilliant!" Another wrote: "Is it just me or are the judges being incredibly harsh to Jamie?" Someone said: "So confused, I loved Jamie's dance."

Not everyone felt the same though as some fans instead complained that he had been "overmarked". One person tweeted: "Jamie always gets overmarked imo." Another said: "Jamie should've been in the bottom 2. He's constantly overmarked."

A third wrote: "Sam [Quek] and Montell [Douglas] in the dance off when people like Wynne [Evans] and Jamie keep getting overmarked every week." Another said: "Overmarked Jamie again." Whilst one viewer wrote: "I'm glad Jamie finally got some criticism. He is so overmarked it's ridiculous."

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