Strictly star Ellie Simmonds hit the “lowest point” of dancing on Saturday’s show, argues a renowned dance specialist.
This expert has even taken her criticism a step further and said the show’s judges were “over-compensating” for Ellie’s recent dance.
Ellie hasn’t had the easiest ride in the Strictly Come Dancing competition. As soon as the contest began, the Paralympian swimmer was subjected to torrents of online abuse.
Cruel trolls mocked Ellie for her dwarfism. She later came out and said, however, she wasn’t going to let them get the best of her.
But the swimmer encountered yet another rough patch at the weekend. She and dance partner Nikita Kuzmin didn’t feel like they’d put their best feet forward.
The pair did progress to the next round of the competition. Not everyone was pleased about this result, though – including a PhD-holding dance expert.
Strictly judges accused of ‘over-compensating’ for Ellie Simmonds
As part of Strictly’s Halloween special (October 29), Ellie and Nikita danced the FoxTrot to the Scooby Doo theme tune. Ellie dressed up as the character Velma Dinkley, while Nikita gave Velma’s sidekick Shaggy Rogers a go.
Ellie got emotional while talking to host Claudia Winkleman on Sunday (October 30). She joked that she’d downed a double espresso to prepare for the dance-off and was relieved to have got through to next week.
But Jill Rose Jacobs, who holds a PhD in Music, wasn’t impressed with Ellie’s performance at the weekend. She discussed her feelings in the HeartBingo blog.
“The judges commented favourably following Ellie Simmonds’ and her partner Nikita Kumzin’s Scooby-Doo Foxtrot,” she explained.
“However, for me, Ellie’s would be the lowest point of the celebrity performances in last week’s show. The judges over-compensated by gushing over Ellie’s technique but the routine was weak in elements of performance.
“Dance is a performing art and what Ellie and her partner Nikita performed was a demonstration in Foxtrot technique. I feel the performance may put Ellie at risk of elimination.”
If Jill’s sentiment is shared, could Ellie be at risk of getting booted out this coming weekend?
Dance expert weighs in on last weekend’s Strictly show
Dr Jill’s takes on last weekend’s instalments didn’t end there. She also revealed who she thought had the best performance, and what she thought of the celebrities who were in the bottom two.
She sang comedian Ellie Taylor‘s praises, saying that she’s grown as a dancer.
She said: “In previous weeks, I have often placed Ellie as one of the weaker dancers on the show. What was different about Ellie’s last performance was the organic flow in her upper torso.
“A lot of Ellie’s costumes have been corseted, which emphasises a lack of mobility in her mid-section. While Ellie’s costume was once again corseted, her dancing was greatly improved allowing her to move despite restrictive costumes.”
Jill then talked about Fleur East and James Bye being in the most recent dance-off. Again, she wasn’t happy with how things went down.
She said of Fleur: “Fleur’s performance exhibited a heightened level of strength, coordination and expressivity. Fleur should not have been in the bottom two.”
Dr Jill also talked about Fleur’s fall, which she encountered during the dance-off.
“I do hope Fleur is not injured from the fall in the dance off,” she expressed. “I am sorry to see James Bye go, but it was his time to leave.”
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