Strictly Come Dancing pro slams judges for 'overmarking' star claiming he was 'protected'

Strictly Come Dancing audiences had to say goodbye to another contestant as footballer Paul Merson was eliminated from the competition on Sunday evening. The departure follows his dance-off against JLS's JB Gill, which left viewers in disbelief, particularly given JB's decent judges' score of 30.

However, one former pro dancer notably disagreed with the judges' assessments elsewhere in the show. Ola Jordan, who graced the Strictly dance floor from 2006 to 2015, has partnered with Mecca Bingo to critique the series, and she's not mincing her words.

Last week, fans were stunned to see Shayne Ward and Nick Knowles pitted against each other in the dance-off. With Shayne securing his spot for another week, attention turned to his latest performance, which failed to impress Ola.

When questioned about his routine, she said: "I didn't like Shayne's dance. I don't understand why they all praised him so much. It's almost like because he was in the bottom two last week, they all had to praise him and how amazing was and I didn't think he was that amazing."

She critiqued his technique, mentioning: "He had a bad posture, not great arms but no one mentioned that. He got a really good score but, in my opinion, he was overmarked."

Despite the positive reception from judges resulting in one seven and three eights for Shayne and his dance partner Nancy Xu's American Smooth, Ola firmly disagreed with their verdict, reports Birmingham Live.

She added: "That's the only person that I didn't agree with this weekend. It's almost like they couldn't say a bad thing because he was in the bottom two last week, like let's save him from the bottom two. It was a bit like he was protected."

This week, Shayne managed to secure seventh place on the leaderboard with a score of 31, just ahead of JB. Meanwhile, BBC viewers witnessed some stellar performances, with Jamie Borthwick and Montell Douglas both receiving near-perfect scores of 39.

Conversely, Paul ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard, only managing to score 19 for his dance routine.

Reflecting on his stint in the competition, he commented: "It's been really good. For anybody I talk to, I would say you've got to go on this show. It's amazing - everybody. There's a Tottenham fan over there called Lincoln and even he's nice!

Paul had nothing but praise regarding his partnership with Karen, adding: "It's been amazing, honestly, amazing. I loved every minute of it, I've had a great teacher. She's been amazing, absolutely amazing and I couldn't wish for a better coach. I've loved every minute of it."

Discussing his new-found skills, Paul remarked: "I can dance now - I've won because I can dance, I couldn't dance before and I can half dance now. It's a bonus, absolute bonus."

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturdays on BBC One from 6:25pm