Strictly Come Dancing stuck in favouritism row as fans claim judges are 'protecting' star

Paul Merson was the latest celebrity to be voted off the BBC One show, but fans were disappointed to see one couple avoid the dreaded dance-off despite sparking a huge controversy

Strictly Come Dancing is embroiled in a favouritism row as fans have claimed the judges are overscoring a star on the show “to protect him”.

Former footballer Paul Merson was the latest celebrity to be voted off the BBC One show on Sunday, but viewers complained that another couple should have been in the dance-off. Many suggested that Wynne Evans and Katya Jones are being overscored to keep them in the competition amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the duo.

The scandal emerged last week, when cameras caught the Welsh opera singer moving his hand across Katya’s waist, only for the visibly annoyed professional dancer to quickly brush him off. She was later seen snubbing an enthusiastic high five from Wynne, and rolled her eyes as she turned away from him in the awkward encounter.

On Saturday, the couple ignored the growing criticism and took to the dancefloor to perform a quickstep to Electric Light Orchestra's iconic hit Mr. Blue Sky, and the routine left judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke impressed. Head judge Shirley “absolutely loved” it, while Anton said the dance was “lovely”, and Wynne and Katya ended up fifth on the leaderboard with 33 points. However, Strictly fans believe the judges are “protecting” Wynne after the groping controversy began, and they took to Reddit to share their frustration.

“Protecting Wynne. I'm so annoyed with the over-marking of his dance just because he had a rough week. There's no way he deserved 9s when Sarah got 8s,” one fumed, as they claimed Miranda star Sarah Hadland should have been scored much higher than Wynne. Another agreed: “It felt very odd and deliberate!!” as a third chimed in: “I was staggered by those marks.”

“What the heck is going on with the scores for Wynne?! He almost completely stacked it doing that weird jump next to the bench and he just looked all over the place and messy the whole routine and they gave him 9s??” another viewer fired, as one dubbed the performance as average. “I thought it was just me. I did not think it was 9 worthy, 7 at most. It wasn't anything special,” they commented.

Wynne and Katya released statements after the ‘groping’ scandal last week, and the GoCompare advert star said he was “heartbroken” over the backlash. He insisted it was an “inside joke gone wrong”, and Wynne insisted he and Katya were close pals on and off the dancefloor. The professional dancer admitted she had been upset by the growing controversy, and said during an interview on It Takes Two that she wanted to stick up for Wynne. “The idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense, and those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. So hopefully this will be the end of it, and you just keep making me smile. I can't sit here watching this man being portrayed as someone he's not,” she stated.

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