Ashley’s Strictly ‘too good to win’

SHE looked shocked when she found herself in the bottom two on Strictly Come Dancing just a week after earning a perfect score.

But US pop star Ashley Roberts’s fall from favour at the weekend might be down to the public wanting an underdog to win the show, according to last year’s champion Joe McFadden, 43. Viewers have been divided over the participation of Miss Roberts, 37, who sang and danced in girl group the Pussycat Dolls and was a judge on ITV’s Dancing on Ice in 2013. With dance partner Pasha Kovalev, 38, she kept herself in contention only by beating cricketer Graeme Swann in the dance-off on Sunday night.

Holby City actor McFadden said viewers prefer contestants who have had to work hard. ‘It’s a British thing that you like to see people sweating. You like to see them working at maximum effort.’