BBC Strictly Come Dancing professional claims star 'was protected' to avoid dance-off

Strictly Come Dancing fans bid farewell to another star as sportsman Paul Merson was booted off of the show on Sunday night, It comes after the 56-year-old found himself going head-to-head against JLS star JB Gill.

JB finding himself in the bottom two was a shock for many viewers, especially as he earned a respectable score of 30 from the judges. However, there was one contestant whose score didn’t go down well with one former professional.

Ola Jordan, who was on the show from 2006 to 2015, has teamed up with Mecca Bingo to share her thoughts on the latest episode and she hasn’t held back. In the previous week, BBC fans saw Shayne Ward in the dance-off alongside Nick Knowles, which was another shock to viewers.

With Shayne being saved to dance another week, all eyes were on him on the weekend to see how he would bounce back. Although Ola was less than impressed with his routine, when asked if she was impressed by his performance, she replied: “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.

“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.”

Shayne and his professional partner Nancy Xu were given one seven and three eights from the judges for their American Smooth. Which Ola strongly disagreed with.

She continued: “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."

Over the week, Shayne’s routine put him seventh on the leaderboard with a total of 31, one place up from JB. However, BBC fans saw some near-perfect scores with Jamie Borthwick and Montell Douglas were both awarded 39 for their routines.

On the other end of the scale, Paul found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard with a total of 19 for his routine. Speaking about his time on the show he said: “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 when speaking about dancing with Karen. He added: “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.

“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 Saturday on BBC One from 6:25pm