Strictly Come Dancing professional Katya Jones has admitted she felt thoroughly 'confused' by the judging panel's assessments of Saturday evening's dances. In the latest instalment of Strictly, broadcast over the weekend, contestants took on Movie Week. As part of the themed evening, Katya and celebrity partner John Nellis delivered a Couple's Choice routine to An Irish Party in Third Class.
Judges' harsh marks for Dianne and Will
Elsewhere, Dianne Buswell and celebrity partner Will Best presented a Foxtrot to Old Time Rock and Roll from Risky Business, while Nancy Xu and celebrity partner Bethany Antonia showcased a Paso Doble to No Good Deed from Wicked: For Good. Yet Dianne and Will struggled to win over the judging panel with their performance, receiving marks of 4, 5, 5 and 5, amounting to merely 19 points.
In their critique, judge Craig Revel Horwood confessed he "didn't love it", while Anton Du Beke highlighted issues with dropping energy levels and Shirley Ballas remarked upon Will's flat feet.
Dianne defends her routine
Discussing the performance and subsequent criticism on Wednesday's It Takes Two, Dianne revealed: "Yeah, I was really proud of it. I actually genuinely thought this was one of my favourite routines I've ever choreographed."
"I knew it would be Marmite. I knew it would either... You would love it or you're gonna [hate it].." Dianne continued: "I was happy to take that risk. I think, you know, ten years on the show now, I've never seen this movie being done before."
"You want to play to the movie's strengths. So you have to put in the bits like the couch scene and things like that to make it." Dianne went on to heap praise on Will for pouring his "heart and soul" into the show and routines.
Katya's reaction
Katya was swift to cut in, remarking: "Look, obviously, Dianne is a teacher, so she has an opinion. But as outsiders, we could not believe what we were hearing."
"We were watching a different dance. Literally, that split second, I turned around to John and said, 'Dianne is such a good teacher!' "His frame and the flow is fantastic. So then, I'm not going to lie, I was very confused by the judges' opinions, but we will leave it up to them. Of course, there's lots of improvement to make, but... it was amazing."
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
