AN ex Strictly pro has waded into a ‘fix’ row on the hit BBC competition.
Viewers have criticised a perceived advantage for celeb contestants with previous dance experience.
Strictly viewers have complained celebs with dance training have an “unfair advantage”[/caption]
Ola Jordan was a Strictly pro for nine years – and gave her thoughts on this year’s lineup[/caption]
Viewers called out former Love Island star Tasha Ghouri for having a dance background[/caption]
Professional dancer Ola Jordan, 42, starred in Strictly from 2006 to 2015.
Speaking in a new interview with Mecca Bingo., she shared her thoughts on Week 5’s leaderboard and the stars’ dancing abilities.
Arsenal legend turned pundit Paul Merson was in last place, with 19 points – and he was ultimately eliminated.
Ola said: “The leaderboard was right in some respect because you’ve got Paul, Punam, Pete and Sam in the bottom of the leaderboard, they are all non-dancers.
“The rest above have had some sort of dance-related training, maybe apart from Chris, but he’s very good.
“The bottom four that are on the leaderboard are really pretty much not dancers.”
Those who placed higher include the likes of Shayne Ward, Wynne Evans and JB Gill.
Joint top of the leaderboard were Gladiators’ Montell Douglas and EastEnders‘ Jamie Borthwick, with 39 each.
Soap star Jamie, 30, won last year’s Strictly Christmas special alongside Nancy Xu.
Meanwhile, actress Alex Kingston revealed her pal Sarah Hadland is a “trained ballet dancer”.
Fans hit out at ex-Love Island star Tasha Ghouri over her professional dance training background.
The 26-year-old is partnered with pro Aljaž Škorjanec – and the pair have consistently placed high on the leaderboard each week.
Taking to X, one viewer wrote: “Tasha getting all high scores but sure she’s a professional dancer, bit unfair.”
Another added: “Isn’t Tasha Ghouri a professional dancer? Wasn’t that a thing when she was in Love Island?”
Strictly 2024 pairings
Here’s who is matched with who this series…
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell
Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas
JB Gill and Amy Dowden MBE
Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe
Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk
Paul Merson and Karen Hauer
Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał
Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez
Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec
Tom Dean MBE and Nadiya Bychkova
Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones
Sam Quek MBE and Nikita Kuzmin
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola
Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu
Wynne Evans and Katya Jones
While a third remarked: “I love tasha but she isn’t meant to be on the show because she is already a PROFESSIONAL DANCER.”
Others disagreed with the notion and came to Tasha’s defence.
A fan penned: “shes not ballroom or latin trained though, there are multiple ‘trained’ dancers on the show.”
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and is available on iPlayer.
Actress Sarah Hadland is trained in ballet[/caption]
Saturday’s show saw footballer turned pundit Paul Merson become the latest elimination[/caption]
