Strictly Come Dancing’s new head judge Shirley Ballas has made quite an impact since stepping in to replace Len Goodman.
Need an example? Well, look no further than that rather awkward moment during last weekend’s live performance show in which the 57-year-old clashed very publicly with pro dancer Brendan Cole.
And it wasn’t the first time the pair had butted heads over Shirley’s critique.
So, yes, it’s pretty fair to say Shirley’s made an impact!
While she may not be a favourite of Brendan’s just yet, one person who has Shirley’s back is fellow Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood.
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Appearing on Strictly spinoff, It Takes Two, Craig, 52, said: “She’s fitting in really, really well – she’s fantastic.
“She knows her onions, darling, and she calls a spade a spade, which in my book is very, very good.
“It’s been quite exciting!”
While Craig finds it exciting, we suspect it’s less enjoyable for Brendan and his partner Charlotte Hawkins, who have yet to impress Shirley.
Two weeks ago, Shirley suggested Brendan, 41, needed to simplify the couple’s routines, after Charlotte blanked on the dance moves, eliciting a furious response from Brendan.
He raged: “I think she should keep those opinions to herself. I put in two difficult steps that we could do in training but when something goes wrong at the start [it’s hard to recover].
“If Shirley wants to swap places with me, I’m quite happy to judge – I know how to do that.”
And things didn’t improve the next week when Brendan and Shirley were at loggerheads AGAIN, this time over the amount of “rise and fall” in his tango with Charlotte, 42.
Shirley said it was “just a little bit better” than the last week, but added: “We have established there is no rise and fall in tango, so we have to make a concrete decision not to use rise and fall.”
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Well, Brendan was NOT happy and fired back: “I’m really sorry, there was no rise and fall there.”
Shirley advised him to play the dance back, to which he said: “I will, my dear, I will.”
We can feel the tension from here!