Oti Mabuse calls out Strictly judges' scores after "most frustrating" episode

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse has criticised the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel, describing Saturday's live show as the "most frustrating episode".

The two-time champion, who lifted the Glitterball with Kelvin Fletcher in 2019 and Bill Bailey in 2020, shared her reaction on TikTok after the episode aired on Saturday 7 November.

She argued that several celebrities were underscored by judges Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke.

Mabuse said she was left puzzled by the marks, questioning why a number of routines scored lower than she expected. "Ultimately, I just thought a lot of the dances were underscored, and when they were, I wondered if we were focused on the couple," she said.

"It left me wondering why they were underscored, it left me wondering why they would give a certain score. That's what I need to know: why we're giving certain scores."

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She also called on the judges to do more to help the dancers develop, telling them: "Y'all need to tell people how to get better."

Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin topped the leaderboard with 36 points after scoring their first 10 of the series. While John Nellis and Katya Jones and Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby, were left joint bottom on 26 points each.

The judges spent much of the night at odds with one another, and viewers singled out Revel Horwood's scores for Mercer and EastEnders star Lacey Turner as particularly harsh. Fans later demanded "justice" for Mercer online.

Cach and Maddie found themselves in the dance-off opposite Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, with the judges left split in their decision.

Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse voted to save Bethany and Nancy, while Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas voted to save Cach and Maddie.

As it was determined head judge Shirley had the deciding vote, it meant that Bethany and Nancy were sent home.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 14 November at 6:25pm.

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Authors

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.