Multiple Strictly viewers have grown convinced Shirley Ballas is favouring male contestants and they’ve even branded her a “disgrace.”

The head judge was back on Strictly Come Dancing this Saturday (October 26) alongside fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke as she rated contestants for their performances, all of which were hoping to avoid elimination. But after an eventful night, Dr Punam Krishan and Shayne Ward were left to dance it out one last time.

Unfortunately for her, the Morning Live star was axed with her professional partner Gorka Marquez, while the former Coronation Street actor was allowed to move on to the next step of the competition as all judges voted to save him.

“Both couples danced remarkably well, but I would also have saved Shayne and Nancy”, she said during Sunday night’s results show – and her admission triggered a wave of reactions on social media, many of them accusing Shirley of being biased.

Viewers believe Shirley Ballas decided not to save Dr Punam Krishan for a specific reason ( 
Image:
Guy Levy/BBC/PA)

“The thing is that Shirley would have voted to keep Shayne even if he’d played musical statues”, one bitterly penned, “She’s all about the men and always has been. She shouldn’t be head judge. It’s a disgrace.” Another quickly jumped in to agree: “Shirley always has a bias towards the male contestants and she definitely has a soft spot for Shayne and Pete. Having said that, Punam was in trouble for a couple of weeks.

A third Strictly fan added, in reference to the late Len Goodman: “Len never favoured anyone and Anton just agrees with her on everything she’s got a lot of power, Darcy is missed she left very quickly after her! I think the judges need a shake up and given walnuts and goodbye.”

While Punam Krishan was booted out of the competition, professional dancer Amy Dowden was revealed to have collapsed after her own performance with partner JB Gill and she was rushed to hospital. After doubts around her participation in this week’s show, it was then confirmed the Welsh dancer would be staying away from the dancefloor and Lauren Oakley is due to replace her.

A Strictly Come Dancing spokesperson said this Monday, October 28: “Amy Dowden MBE is doing much better and the Strictly family send her love and wish her well. She is delighted that fellow professional dancer, Lauren Oakley, is able to step in for rehearsals and to perform in Saturday’s show for JB Gill’s Couple’s Choice dance. We are all hopeful that Amy will be back to dance with JB next week.”

Amy’s celebrity dance partner JB thanked the public for their support on Sunday, hours on from her health scare. On Instagram, the JLS singer penned: “On behalf of both @amy_dowden and I, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for voting for us and wishing us well. We absolutely loved our performance on Saturday night and are so grateful to be through to another week on @bbcstrictly Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.”