A former Strictly pro has claimed Zara McDermott is still in the series for a specific reason (Picture: BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole has taken aim at current contestant Zara McDermott.
The former professional dancer appeared on the first 15 seasons of Strictly, being partnered with stars including Fiona Phillips, Lisa Snowdon and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, before being dropped in 2017.
This year he’s been sharing his thoughts on topics from the ‘Strictly curse’ to revealing he struggled to get along with his celebrity partners.
But now he’s turned his attention to former Love Island star Zara, 26, and claimed he knows why she’s still in the competition.
Despite her and professional partner Graziano Di Prima having impressed the judges with their routines so far, Brendan believes her strong social media following – she has 1.8 million Instagram followers – is influencing the panel’s decision.
‘I’m led to believe she has got a tonne of followers across her various social media platforms,’ he said.
Brendan Cole believes her social media following is influencing the judges (Picture: David Fisher/ REX/ Shutterstock)
‘The judges will like that, and the show will like that, because they always want to attract a younger audience.
‘Every year, we have a YouTube star or an Instagram influencer and it’s great for the show, as it’ll mean more followers for the show and everything is measured by how many Instagram followers you have these days,’ he added when speaking to Sky Bingo, as reported by The Sun.
He continued: ‘So the cynical side of me says they are going to keep Zara around because it means more interest in the show.’
Zara hit back against other criticisms of her dancing skills earlier this week (Picture: PA)
The dancer then said the pair ‘looked pretty to watch’ but slammed their dancing as ‘poor’.
‘That was one of the worst Foxtrot’s we’ve seen on the show, even if it looked pretty, so I’m not sure why they were saved.’
Earlier this week Zara hit back against criticism of her dancing abilities when someone on social media tried to dish out advice.
Pointing out that the clip they had been commenting on was filmed before the show even started, she appeared to get the last laugh by proving she had been working hard in the competition.
However, she did have to take some time out this week after her boyfriend Sam Thompson went to the doctor after suffering severe kidney pain,
Speaking on his podcast with Pete Wicks, Sam detailed how he thought he was ‘dying’, with Zara leaving rehearsals to make sure he was ok.
Despite the drama, it turned out there was ‘nothing wrong’ with him.
Metro.co.uk has contacted representatives for Zara McDermott for comment.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6:40pm on BBC One.
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‘The cynical side of me thinks they are going to try and keep her around.’