Former Strictly Come Dancing pro Brendan Cole has said the choreography for Shayne Ward last weekend was “terrible”.

Shayne, 39, and his professional partner Nancy Xu danced a Samba on Saturday’s first live show. They performed to Do I Do by Stevie Wonder.

However, Brendan – who appeared as a pro on Strictly from 2004 to 2017 – has admitted he wasn’t keen on the choreography.

Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu dancing on Strictly
Nancy and Shayne performed a Samba last weekend (Credit: BBC/Guy Levy)

Brendan Cole on Strictly performances

Speaking on behalf of Sky Vegas, Brendan told ED! about who could go far in the competition: “There were a few couples who proved themselves to be serious contenders.

Terrible choreography for him because he actually danced really nicely.

“Tasha [Ghouri] was very good. I really liked Jamie [Borthwick], I thought his Viennese Waltz was very good. It’s quite a tricky one to do first, because of the speed and the technique of it.”

Sharing his thoughts on former Coronation Street actor Shayne, Brendan added: “Shayne Ward had a bit of a hard time from the judges – it was more about the choreography – [it was] terrible choreography for him because he actually danced really nicely.

Brendan Cole speaking on GMB
Brendan shared his thoughts on Shayne’s choreography (Credit: ITV)
“Some of the choreography was questionable and it didn’t help some of the competitors. That’s my overwhelming feeling on that, and I don’t think that was picked up enough.”

Who could leave Strictly this weekend

Meanwhile, Brendan also spoke about who could be at risk of leaving this coming weekend.

He said: “There are definitely a few [couples] that are in trouble. I’d say the most at risk would be Toyah [Willcox] and Neil Jones.

“She just didn’t seem to grasp the concept of the dance at all, whereas Nick Knowles, who I thought was going to struggle, actually did a really good job.”

Toyah Willcox dancing with Neil Jones on Strictly
Brendan thinks Toyah could be at risk of leaving this weekend (Credit: BBC/Guy Levy)
Brendan added to us: “For the most part, people had a pretty good first night, the standard was quite good.

Read more: Strictly fans fume over ‘terrible’ song choice for Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk dance

“Nobody’s standing out at the moment as a weak link, other than probably Toyah. [Getting a score of 12] has to hurt.”