Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas tired to redeem herself tonight as she praised Rose Ayling-Ellis following her awkward commentary on yesterday's show.
The judge came under fire for crediting the EastEnders actress for blocking out the noise in the studio ahead of her dance with Giovanni Pernice, which caused outrage on social media.
On tonight's results show she praised the star again, but this time told host Claudia Winkleman: "She could see the commotion that was going on, but she steadfastly came out and gave the performance of a lifetime. Truly, truly inspiring."
It seems that Shirley may have read some of the scathing tweets following her critique yesterday in which she said: “Before Rhys went on before you, there was lots of noise, clapping.
"You came in, you blocked it out and you delivered a performance of a lifetime."
Fans were shocked and felt Shirley should have chosen her words more carefully.
They took to Twitter in their droves complaining about the comments with one viewer posting: “Did… did Shirley just congratulate Rose on blocking out the noise? Ya know - the only Deaf contestant on the show.”
“Shirley telling Rose that she managed to block out the noise and the clapping before she danced,” one viewer wrote alongside a gif of Judge Judy putting her head in her hands.
Another said: "But Shirley, Rose is deaf - noise wouldn't bother her".
While someone else tweeted: “Oh Shirley. The cringe when it dawns on her what she said to Rose.”
However another viewer stuck up for the judge saying: "I totally get what Shirley means, I am deaf and the distraction is from the noise, Rose knew what she was saying, the previous dancer had loud noises that was all.
"Just because we are deaf doesn’t mean we don’t feel it in other ways!""
Rose received 39 points for her routine, putting her at the top of the leaderboard alongside Rhys.
After BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker left the show this evening, the talented star dances her way into the semi-finals with John Whaite, AJ Odudu and Rhys.
Strictly Come Dancing returns next Saturday on BBC One.
