Strictly star Will Mellor rued the judges’ comments about him last weekend as he reflected on avoiding the dance off.
Will, 46, battled a virus in the days running up to Saturday’s (October 15) performance, limiting his ability to rehearse.
Nonetheless, he and pro partner Nancy Xu pressed on with their rhumba, but ended up with their lowest score so far.
Additionally, Will and Nancy were the final couple not be told they were safe before Matt Goss and Nadiya Bychkova were confirmed as the pair dancing for their survival against Kym Marsh and Graziano Di Prima.
Appearing on It Takes Two last night (Thursday October 20), Will revealed how he felt he’d performed under the circumstances.
And his words seemed to convey a sense of frustration with the judges as he explained how his mood changed as they assessed his performance.
Were the Strictly judges too harsh on Will Mellor?
Strictly’s judges came under fire from viewers last weekend for the 23 points awarded to Will and Nancy.
The pair had previously notched up scores of 34, 26 and 33.
Craig Revel Horwood scored them only a four, while Shirley Ballas served up just five points.
Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke meanwhile both gave the couple seven.
And going by Will’s comments on It Takes Two, he was clearly deflated by those marks – even though he only trained for one day.
“It was the best I could have done it, I think,” he told host Janette Manrara.
He continued: “I was happy, honestly, before the dance-off. I was, like: ‘Right, let’s do this.’
“I love the song, I love the sentiment behind it, and the routine Nancy put together.
Everything went good until the judges started talking…
“The audience reaction in the studio felt good and I was happy.
“Everything went good until the judges started talking…”
It Takes Two last night
Will admitted he may have “overcompensated” with his upper body motions and acting because they hadn’t rehearsed as much as they might have wanted.
But he also sounded irked by the situation.
Will sighed: “The judges know what they’re talking about so I have to take it all on board. And that’s what we did.”
Nancy also admitted they were both nervous about possibly ending up in the dance-off as the couples were whittled down.
Will added: “I didn’t want to go out like that. ‘Just give me another chance, please,’ you know?”
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But following last weekend’s experience, Will is determined to bounce back with his Viennese Waltz to the Line of Duty theme for the BBC centenary-themed show.
“Now I’m in it I’m desperate to keep going and improve,” he admitted.
Read more: Strictly: Will Mellor in ‘danger’ of facing dance-off over coming weeks for this reason?
Strictly Come Dancing continues this Saturday October 22 on BBC One at 6.40pm.
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