Former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Ola Jordan has admitted she thinks the judges should ease off on Charlotte Hawkins, following a tough couple of weeks for the ‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter.
In the most recent live show, Charlotte showed signs of improvement following her ill-fated Cha Cha routine, but judge Shirley Ballas riled her professional partner Brendan Cole when she suggested there was too much “rise and fall” in their Tango.
Ola - who danced on the show for almost a decade until stepping down in 2015 - has now urged the judges to rein it in with Charlotte, suggesting she’s more “vulnerable” than some of her competitors.
She told The Sun: “The judges need to be softer on Charlotte because she’s vulnerable. And Brendan needs to calm down and say ‘I’ve got to be professional’.”
Yeah, because if there’s one thing both Ola and husband James Jordan were famed for, it was their professionalism throughout their time on ‘Strictly’...
James also agreed that the judges were being a little harsh with Charlotte, tweeting on Saturday (7 October) that they were “crushing” her confidence with their critiques.
Following Brendan’s showdown with Shirley in Saturday’s live show, fellow judge Bruno Tonioli warned him to “be more respectful” of the panel, adding: “There are still too many mistakes. I’m not an expert or anything, I’ve only done around 500 shows, but [Shirley] is right.”
The New Zealand-born dancer has already hit out at Shirley once over her critiques in the live shows, telling ‘It Takes Two’ presenter Zoe Ball: “If Shirley wants to swap places with me, I’m quite happy to judge and her to do that.”