01 November 2023 , 14:57
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Following Strictly Come Dancing star Zara McDermott's elimination, her boyfriend Sam Thompson has now decided to break his silence and has waded into the "fix" that surrounds the show.
Sam, 31, who found fame in 2013 on reality TV show Made In Chelsea, spoken out amid allegations the show is 'rigged' to favour the many performers who have previous dance experience, with the judges heaping them with praises and handing out high scores that don't reflect the growth of the novice stars.
Opening up on his girlfriend Zara being the latest celebrity to be booted off the show, Sam candidly claimed that "we all knew it was coming pretty soon."
Sam Thompson wades in on Strictly fix row (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Speaking on Hits UK, he said: "It was her third dance off, and everyone else, and I know Zara won’t mind me saying this, everyone else is a better dancer than her. Most [contestants left] have had some sort of theatre training, let alone dance training and she trained for 12 hours a day every single day. I barely got to see her, and she put every single ounce of herself into it." Praising her efforts he continued: "She can walk out with her head held incredibly high and I said this to her; ‘you beat everyone else who couldn’t dance, who’ve never danced before, so you’re my winner."
The former reality TV star turned podcaster and documentary maker said that he is now backing Angela Rippon to win the coveted trophy. He added: "Those legs for a 79-year-old…. I’m sorry but the moves she can do are better than what I can do at 30!" Zara became the fifth celebrity to be voted off Strictly after a Halloween week dance off against Adam Thomas and his professional dance partner Luba Mushtuk.
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Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima were eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing (BBC)Unfortunately all four judges, Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel-Horwood, Motsi Mabusi and Anton Du Beke, were unanimous in their decision to send her home, in favour of the Waterloo Road star. Former Strictly Come Dancing star James Jordan became the latest celebrity to wade in on the BBC show's fix row earlier this month, by claiming that celebrities who are thinking of joining the show next year need some level of dance training - otherwise it's pointless.
The 45 year old professional dancer, who sensationally quit the show ahead of series 12 in 2014, following a reported clash with the show's judge Craig Revel-Horwood, has publicly said that show bosses have gone too far in signing up people with professional training. This comes after it was revealed that Layton Williams had a successful career in musicals and Angela Scanlon danced with the O'Shea Irish Dance Company - and performed internationally with the group.
Speaking to Hello magazine at the time, he said on Layton's performance:"He is a fully trained, professional dancer. When they came out, you had essentially two professional dancers next to each other. Let's not say, 'oh it's because (Layton's) really talented and has worked really hard'. Because that kind of belittles our dancing world that someone can come out and be that good after a week's training. You can't. It was probably one of my favourite dances I've ever seen on the show - but that's only because he's a professional dancer."