Former Strictly Come Dancing professional slams BBC show over 'over-marking'

A former Strictly Come Dancing professional star has hit out at the BBC competition for "over marking". Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman were back at the helm of the dance show as they presented a special episode in Blackpool's iconic Tower Ballroom.

While watching from home, James Jordan, who appeared as a professional on from 2006 to 2013, criticised the judges for marking the performances of the evening differently to what he would have done.

Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, , and Anton Du Beke gave their scores after each of the remaining celebs and their dance partners took to the floor.

But James claimed that they were trying to "save" one pair in particular - Gladiators star and partner Johannes Radebe.

Taking to Twitter, the dancer fumed: " Ok - so are they over marking everyone or are they trying to keep Montell safe? Please remember I haven't really watched the show this year but the scores seem very high for what I'm seeing."

One fan agreed, saying: "Scores are nonsense this year. Too many 9s & 10s. They become meaningless." Another added: "The over marking this year is the worst ever. And there are a few - judges' favourites - who are very over marked."

But other fans defended the judge's decisions, with one replying: "Motsi, Shirley and Anton always give pretty positive scores. When they start so high like they did this week its difficult for them to drop down if anyones not great."

Someone else added: "You sound so grumpy and if you've not watched the whole series - can you really make those judgements- it's Wynne and Katya and Pete and Jowita. who've been seriously overmarked each week!"

It comes as former pro , as he addressed her routine from week eight.

Speaking exclusively to Express Online on behalf of , the former show pro admitted the Olympian is a great performer but suggested there was a "lack of technique".

He too thought that the judges were "over marking" as he explained: "In my opinion, for the second week running, Montell [Douglas] was slightly overmarked for her number. There was a lack of technique in there. It was a very good number visually, really strong. She's doing great stuff, and he [Johannes Radebe] is being a fantastic partner.

"As a visual, it was great, but I don't see her keeping up at the moment. The last couple of weeks, for me, she has had two average weeks - not reflected in Saturday night's score. She had great scores and great comments on Saturday, but I didn't see it as that."

Express.co.uk have approached BBC for comment.