Stop bullying Emma, Strictly fans tell Shirley
... maybe that’s why she gave her and Anton a 10 last night!
STRICTLY head judge Shirley Ballas has been accused of ‘bullying’ contestant Emma Barton since the beginning of the series.
Hundreds of viewers have complained on social media after Miss Ballas repeatedly criticised the EastEnders star, with one saying: ‘She’s a borderline bully.’
And just hours after The Mail on Sunday contacted Miss Ballas’s representatives, she gave Miss Barton and professional partner Anton Du Beke ten out of ten for their American Smooth routine, telling them their dance had been ‘beautifully executed’ and was ‘by far their best dance in the series so far’.
Only last week, while Motsi Mabuse, Bruno Tonioli and even the notoriously waspish Craig Revel Horwood showered the actress and Du Beke with praise, Miss Ballas, 59, was accused of critiquing it ‘through gritted teeth’, saying: ‘Generally one of your better dances.’
The previous week she lambasted Miss Barton, 42, for her rumba, telling her: ‘The only timing that I could read was the basic… the rest of it I have absolutely no idea on what count you were dancing.’
One fan wrote: ‘Seriously though @shirleyballas, what’s your problem with poor Emma Barton? You are so mean to her every week and not even in a constructive way. It’s like a personal vendetta against her or Anton. Everyone has noticed.’
Another tweeted: ‘Have we missed something? Has Shirley Ballas got a problem with Emma Barton? There are worse dancers who she didn’t rip into that badly.’
A source close to Miss Barton told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Neither she or Anton know what they’ve done to Shirley. They are genuinely baffled as to what her problem is.’
Miss Ballas insisted last night that she and Du Beke are close friends. When asked about a rift, she told The Mail on Sunday: ‘What a ridiculous story! This is totally untrue. I’ve known and been friends with Anton over 30 years – all of his dancing life. I was out with him last night for a drink with my mum. This is total, utter lies. Fake news.’
Last year, Miss Ballas denied a feud with Brendan Cole before he left the show after 15 years in 2017. However, he revealed she was offended by a comment he made when she first arrived at the show.
He said: ‘They’d asked if we were going to try to impress Shirley. And I said she’d have to try to impress us because we’d been here for 15 series.
‘I apologised to her for that but I never received a response.’