Shirely Ballas snapped back at trolls questioning her fairness when critiquing dancers (Picture: BBC)
Shirley Ballas has fiercely clapped back after Strictly Come Dancing fans criticised Fleur East landing in the bottom two.
Singer Fleur found herself in the dreaded dance off on Sunday night and was forced to perform her rumba to Too Lost In You by the Sugababes with her partner Vito Coppola for a second time.
She faced off against Ted Lasso actress Ellie Taylor, who became the ninth celebrity to be eliminated.
Ellie and partner Johannes Radebe stepped onto the dance floor first, performing their joyful jive in the hopes it would be enough to save them from getting the boot.
Following suit Fleur managed to last another week but her near departure from the show had fans coming for judge Shirely.
Defending her actions on Twitter, the BBC show regular stopped fans in their tracks as they attempted to blame her low scores for the singer’s survival performance.
For context, Fleur was awarded 35 points out of a possible for her routine, while the likes of Will Mellor was given 38 and Hamza received 37.
The Strictly head judge shut down trolls in one foul swoop (Picture: BBC)
Hundreds of fans rushed to her defence in the comment section on the social networking app (Picture: BBC)
One fan angrily penned to the professional: ‘THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU OVERMARK WILL MELLOR AND HAMZA YASSIN AND YOU UNDERMARK MOLLY RAINFORD AND FLEUR EAST! [sic]’
To which the star coyly responded: ‘No dear this is what happens WHEN YOU DONT VOTE.
‘Full stop the end. Enjoy the rest of the show.’
Sparking debate amongst the Twittersphere, Strictly couch commentators jumped at the chance to let the judge know their thoughts.
I voted,’ another user started. ‘But my opinion is still that you over marked Hamza.
‘You may be the professional and you’re obviously entitled to your opinion, however, so are we.’
Criticism came after Fleur East found herself dancing for her place in the competition (Picture: BBC)
Fleur East and Vito Coppola performed their rumba against Ellie Taylor and partner to survive another week (Picture: PA)
Another questioned the head honcho’s words: ‘How do you know that this person didn’t vote? A rather grand assumption to make.’
Despite reems of negative backlash, support for the dancing pro could be found amongst the hate as Shirley’s fans commented to the rescue.
Beginning with Motsi Mabuse, sister to former Strictly dancer Oti, posted a gif of Jennfer Lopez offering a standing ovation alongside the caption: ‘What miss Shirley said’.
Thereafter members of the public hopped in and encouraged Shirely to block out the noise: ‘You’ve got SO much support behind you even if the hate seems louder.
‘You sent a birthday video a few years ago for my granny’s 80th which she still treasures Hope you have a great week, sending lots of love xx [sic]’.
Buckets of ‘Well said Shirley’ tweets poured in under her reply, showing the star she had more support than she knew.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Friday at 5:40pm on BBC One.
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