‘FIX’ ROW LEAVES ASTON SMARTIN’
Anger as top judge Shirley saves her pal
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STRICTLY head judge Shirley Ballas is at the centre of a fix row after she axed bookies’ favourite Aston Merrygold.
She cast the deciding vote last night to keep her “favourite” Mollie King despite Aston’s impressive track record of high scores.
Contestants and their dance partners are demanding the BBC reverse the decision.
JLS hunk Aston and coach Janette Manrara landed in the dance-off against Saturdays’ babe Mollie and AJ Pritchard. Viewers expected Mollie to go. Judges Darcey Bussell and Bruno Tonioli voted to save Aston, but Craig Revel Horwood chose Mollie.
In Shirley’s deciding vote, she agreed with Craig.
The Strictly cast and crew were left in tears and shock.
Some of the celebrities and dancers privately slated Shirley.
Backlash
And it has emerged that the head judge is close pals with Mollie’s dance coach AJ Pritchard.
Earlier this year she posed for a photo with him and his professional partner Chloe Hewitt.
And Chloe posted: “Loved spending the afternoon with our dance mum @shirleyballas.”
Even Mollie is worried about a backlash, confiding in some of the celebs that she should offer to quit.
Fans took to Twitter to complain “Judges fixed it for Aston to go”, “How can judges save Mollie over Aston because he had one bad dance and six brilliant ones?” and “Judges clearly had their own agenda. Strictly biased”.
Aston said: “I’ve made some amazing friends and honestly I’ve had the best time, it’s been amazing.”
Last night a show insider said: “It’s no secret that everyone was angry and upset about it. But Shirley is a true professional. There is no favouritism.” Debbie McGee is now favourite. Meanwhile, BBC chiefs have blamed bookies for leaking the result – which is recorded on Saturday night – before it airs on Sunday by removing the losing celeb from the market.
But bookies laughed off the warning, with one insider saying: “Every Saturday night, The Strictly Spoiler posts who has gone, as do countless audience members.”