Last night’s live show saw the remaining Strictly Come Dancing contestants face a new challenge as they were tasked with performing not one but two routines, the first an individual dance and the second a group Paso Doble-thon.
Former Emmerdale actress Gemma Atkinson, 33, tackled the notoriously tricky Samba, donning a sizzling red frock as she shimmied her way around the dance floor with her professional partner Aljaž Škorjanec, 27.
Unfortunately, she failed to impress the BBC judging panel, with Craig Revel Horwood, 52, calling the dance “lumpish and awkward”.
“Your hands in the promenade runs looked like soup ladles,” he complained.
Darcey Bussell, 48, criticised the narrative, while Bruno Tonioli, 61, jibed: “It was an absolutely perfect Samba with a hangover.”
Gemma and Aljaž scored a disappointing 25 points, also struggling to improve their leaderboard standing in the Paso Doble-thon, coming fifth out of seven couples and being awarded just three extra points.
Fans flooded to social media to blast the judges for “under-marking” them, with one fuming: “ABSOLUTE BULLS**T!!! Gemma did the best in the group dance! The judges are rubbish and biased!”
“Gemma fifth, Davood [Ghadami] fourth! Absolutely disgusting marking from the judges!! Fix fix fix,” another raged, while a third said: “Davood and Gemma under-marked yet again. Debbie [McGee] over-marked. Shocker.”
“I’m sorry but how the hell did Gemma only get fifth?” another angry Strictly viewer tweeted, adding: “And why in the name of everything that is holy didn’t Joe win?? I’m beyond sick of this favouritism now.”
Several fans accused the judges of “screwing over” Gemma, with one saying: “All my votes went to Gemma. They really screwed her over this week.”
“Gemma was massively under-marked this week – the judges completely screwed them over,” said another. “Vote vote vote!”
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 7.20pm on BBC One.
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