The BBC head judge, who stars on Strictly Come Dancing alongside Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton du Beke, has defended herself.

Strictly Come Dancing star addresses viewers after they demand she’s ‘sacked’

BBC Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has clapped back at complaints from viewers – and demands for her sacking. The BBC head judge, who stars on Strictly Come Dancing alongside Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton du Beke, has defended herself.

Shirley told the Sun: “I’m not going anywhere.” Shirley has hit back at trolls who wanted her sacked from Strictly to say she is not going anywhere after she voted to save Wynne Evans in the dance-off and send singer Shayne Ward home last week.

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Shirley said: “If it was to end here tomorrow, I’d be very grateful for the trips that I’ve had. It’s been the trip of a lifetime, for sure.” She said: “I judge without fear or favour. I’m just someone who sits in that chair as head judge to stay in my lane and judge the dancing — legs, feet, body co-ordination, synchronisation and chemistry between the leader and the follower.” Shirley went on, adding: “Strictly is the light of my life and my friends’ lives.

“My mother in particular, she is that armchair watcher who sits there in that little pink dressing gown she’s had for a thousand years, either with her arms folded because she didn’t agree with what I said or very inviting and wanting to make me a cup of tea. I’ve got a lot of friends who are like, ‘Oh you shouldn’t have sent this one home, you shouldn’t have sent that one’.

“And then I’ll say, ‘Did you vote?’ And they didn’t vote, so therefore you’re not entitled to complain if you don’t vote. I think no matter who goes home at any part of the show, it’s always going to be somebody’s favourite. Of course, the public pick the winner in the final, which they never seem to get wrong, in my opinion.

“Then it’s just that respect for the judges when we have to choose somebody to go home because the public have put them in the bottom two.”