THE STRICTLY judges are being accused of ‘playing favourites’ by furious fans this year.
BBC viewers have claimed contestants' mistakes are ‘being ignored’, especially when it comes to Layton Williams.
The West End star and his dance partner Nikita Kuzmin were given an almost perfect score of 39 during Saturday night's episode.
They took to the iconic Blackpool dancefloor to tackle their couples’ choice dance, with Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man.
But those watching at home were left raging after it became apparent they'd topped the leaderboard.
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In a Reddit thread titled, "Anyone else find the booing of Craig annoying?" someone fumed about the panel's scoring.
They wrote, "Im not an expert but even I could tell Layton was out of sync with Nikita. The ladies on the panel need to get their heads out of Layton’s backside and stop playing favourites."
Layton and Nikita had been awarded a 10 by Anton Du Beke, Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse.
But the ever-critical Craig Revel Horwood opted for a nine instead.
Ballroom fans were also left shocked by Layton's pole dancing during the routine.
One wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “NIKITA DANCING ON A POLE #Strictly YOU TRYNA GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK."
A second said: “I think my heart actually stopped when Nikita started pole dancing."
Another added: “OH MY GOD I WASN’T EXPECTING A POLE ROUTINE AT BLACKPOOL."
TV personality Angela Rippon was the latest star whose time on the show came to an end.
Bobby Brazier, Ellie Leach, Annabel Croft, Nigel Harman, Angela Scanlon and Layton remain in the competition.
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- Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday night on BBC One.
