Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan has called out a major "rule break" he claims BBC bosses missed when casting the 24th series of the dance competition.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk on behalf of WhichBingo, the 48-year-old reflected on Graeme Hall's first two performances on the show. The Channel 5 presenter has an extensive background in ballroom and Latin dance, which Jordan says goes against the show's rules.
Jordan's criticism
Jordan began: "For me personally, he's kind of what Strictly is about - an older gentleman out there doing traditional Cha Cha Chas, and in my opinion, to quite a high level. Fantastic routine put together by Lauren Oakley, lots of precision.
"And then I realised later, I didn't realise at the time, he has had so much ballroom and Latin dance training. From what I was aware, the rules always were on Strictly Come Dancing that you're not supposed to be trained in ballroom or Latin."
He added: "And when I say he's trained, he's also done competitions at a senior level - you can go online and see how many competitions he's done in both styles. Now, I loved them; I thought they were brilliant. However, he is trained in ballroom and Latin, which I thought was against the rules."
Competition history
An online record shared on Reddit lists scores for Graeme's dances dating back to 2013, when he participated in an Over 35s Intermediate CJ Latin competition. The most recent entry is from 2019, where Graeme competed in the Champions of Tomorrow competition for Ballroom.
Last week, the dog trainer appeared on It Takes Two, where he was asked about his dance experience. When asked if he thinks it is helping him, Graeme said: "It does, and it doesn't. You're right, as a hobby, I did a bit of ballroom and Latin, and I entered a few competitions. The problem with that is, I wasn't very good then, and that was quite a few years ago, and Laren has had to undo all the bad things that I was doing and put it right."
Leaderboard success
In week one, Graeme danced a Cha Cha Cha to Elvis Presley's Hound Dog, earning 24 points out of a possible 40. In the second week, he was awarded 31 points for his waltz to The Godfather Waltz from The Godfather for Movie Week.
Their high score saw them top the leaderboard, and second overall after the scores from weeks one and two were combined ahead of the first elimination of the series on Sunday (October 4). Judge Motsi Mabuse called it "mesmerising" while Anton Du Beke said: "I think you could become one of the best ballroom dancers we've ever had on Strictly."
Graeme described his casting on Strictly as a "dream come true" after a stroke left him worried he would never dance again. Speaking to Bernie Keith on BBC Radio Northampton, Hall said he did not expect to dance again after having a stroke caused by a hole in the heart. "I never got back to dancing, I just thought, 'well that was a bit of fun'... and that was that. I put the dance bag in the loft. It's been with me through three house moves," he added. Now that he has made a full recovery, Hall has dusted off his dancing kit and is "loving the experience".
