Strictly fans criticise "ridiculous" scoring during Halloween Week as one pair drops down the leaderboard

A number of Strictly Come Dancing fans criticised the judging panel tonight, arguing that they undermarked a performance by Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita.

The pair, who topped the leaderboard last week on the hit BBC dancing show, performed a Quickstep to Black Magic by Little Mix during tonight's Halloween special.

But the judges had quite a lot of criticism for the duo, with Motsi Mabuse saying: “What I loved is that you have an extension [on your neck] that you can keep throughout the dance. But there were tiny mistakes that kept on popping in. I want you to feel more confident in your ballroom.”

Shirley Ballas added: “It was certainly bright but I don’t agree with Motsi at all [on] the postural element. Because everything was so close at the top, the legs were too close. It wasn’t your best, for me.”

Anton Du Beke said: “I would have liked you to have more space to dance, you just got a bit too close. Your power is extraordinary. It’s very simple for you: give yourself some space to work in.”

Craig Revel Horwood added: “I do agree with Anton. There was a mistake and a bit of gapping. But you did a really tricky Charleston sort of section. It was after that moment, you didn’t pick up your frame again.”

The pair were then given their scores, with the judges awarding them a 6, 7, 5(!) and 7 – making a total of 25 and dropping them significantly down the leaderboard.

Fans were quick to take to social media to claim that the pair had come under more scrutiny from the judges than Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley, who received the same total score, and some of the other couples who scored higher.

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One wrote: "A 5 for tabby is ridiculous truly what are we doing anymore," adding: "Giving Tabby the same score as Graeme….. lol. lmao even"

Another said: "How on earth are they marking tabby the SAME as Graeme? I love Graeme but his dance was not great tonight #strictly."

A third added: "Tabby was robbed she was absolutely better than John sorry #Strictly."

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Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 31 October at 6:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Authors

Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.