Strictly Come Dancing fans have complained that George Clarke is being underscored by the show’s judges after he received his second week of low marks.
The 25-year-old YouTube star, who had a promising start in the competition, was bottom of last week’s leaderboard with a mere 27 points after he failed to impress as Harry Styles for Icons Week.
It was a similar story on Saturday night’s Halloween Week (1 November), which saw Clarke and his partner Alexis Warr receive a score of just 29 for their spooky Cha Cha to “Apple” by Charlie XCX.
Viewers complained on X/Twitter that the judges had picked up on “every single one of George’s mistakes”, while the viewing public “barely noticed”.
“Then they haven’t mentioned Vicky [Pattison] and Kai [Widdrington]’s visible mistake one time? This show is angering me tonight,” one person said.
Meanwhile, other users said Clarke was being “set up” by choreography that didn’t demonstrate his skills on the dancefloor as much as possible.
“That dance was all about Alexis. Not so much about George,” one person claimed, while another said Clarke was being “set up” by the choreography and the song choice. “He barely danced. His partner was doing most of the work!” they said.
Strictly judges noted that Clarke’s feet weren’t turned out for the entirety of the dance and that the social media star wasn’t coming to the dancefloor with enough attack.
“I need you to be more competitive. Believe you can win this,” head judge Shirley Ballas told Clarke following the performance.
Anton Du Beke echoed: “The only person that doesn’t believe in what you do is you…We want to see the next level.”
He added: “Can I have more please? More drive. More competitiveness.”
Following the judges feedback, Clarke reflected: “I think last week was a bit of a setback but I wanted to prove to myself that I am putting in the effort and I’m not plateauing. I’m improving – fingers crossed.”
Clarke finished week six of the competition in seventh place on the Strictly leaderboard, ahead of EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal, model Ellie Goldstein and Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.
It will now be down to the public vote which two couples wind up in the dreaded dance off for Sunday nights results show.
You can follow all of the latest Strictly updates on The Independent’s live blog here.
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