TV

Strictly’s Shirley Ballas under fire yet again for “insensitive” comments

She just can't seem to get it right

Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Shirley Ballas has angered fans again after her “insensitive” comments to Jonnie Peacock on Saturday night.

The Olympian is an amputee, and Shirley, in an attempt to help him with his posture, ended up advising him how to make his legs “operate better.”

Last week Jonnie found himself in the bottom two against Ruth langsford and Anton Du Beke. He survived the dance off, but is favourite to go home this week.

Read more: A lister surprises Strictly fans with guest appearance

After he performed a Tron-style tango with partner Oti Mabuse on Saturday night’s show, Darcey told him there was an improvement.

But when it came to Shirley’s turn to critique, she started off by making a pun based on the song they’d danced to – Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics – saying:

“I’m trying to dream in my mind as to how I can help you with your posture.

“I think you really need to think about the tailbone of your spine pointing downwards and your chest, everything needs to be in a straight line it doesn’t need to be too far forward, just in a straight line.”

She then continued: “When the vertical line becomes much stronger, the legs operate much better.”

Fans were quick to call her out on the comment about his legs, pointing out that he uses a prosthetic and her comments didn’t seem to take that into consideration.

Read more: Strictly’s Shirley almost misses her cue leaving fans in hysterics

There were a couple of people who defended Shirley, saying her knowledge was impressive and her criticism fair.


Carena Crawford
Associate Editor (Soaps)