Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas hits back at viewers who criticise her marking

New Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has hit back at viewers who have criticised her marking.

Shirley joined Strictly this year as the show’s new head judge in place of Len Goodman who stepped down last series.

But Shirley has been criticised by some fans of the show for supposedly under and over marking certain celebrities.

Earlier this month, Shirley was even jokingly accused of being drunk when she gave Joe McFadden and his pro partner Katya Jones a perfect 10.

“Shirley just gave Joe a 10?! Is she drunk ? #Strictly” one viewer reacted on Twitter.

But Shirley hit back at the viewers: “They’re not ballroom dancers.”

She explained: “I have been an adjudicator all my life. People are judged against themselves and not against each other. Every journey is a different one.”

Shirley told The Sun newspaper: “In some ways I love the viewers but they’re not ballroom dancers. Some of them are and they have great constructive criticism.

“But it doesn’t matter if you like one thing because someone is always going to like the opposite of what you like and that’s OK, it’s what makes the world go round.”

And on reading viewers’ comments about her appearances on Saturday nights, Shirley added: “I have a great following on Twitter. I like constructive criticism but if they’re downright mean I just block them.”

The remaining ten couples will take to the dancefloor again next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC One on Saturday evening at 6.50pm