Former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Brendan Cole has given a damning one-word critique of a celebrity dancer who he thought was a contender to win the show
Strictly legend Brendan Cole claims that one contestant who has previously “done some phenomenal dances” on Strictly “let themselves down” after their recent performance.
Brendan Cole predicted one celebrity contestant on Strictly Come Dancing “should” lift the Glitterball Trophy in December based on their performances so far. However he claims their latest dance wasn’t worthy of a winner, using one damning word to describe it.Discussing Jamie Borthwick ’s Argentine Tango to the Arctic Monkey’s Do I Wanna Know? with his professional partner Michelle Tsiakkas, former pro Brendan, 48, who appeared in the show from 2004 to 2017, claimed the dance didn’t actually contain that much tango and was “average”.
“I wouldn’t expect her [Michelle] to dance down to try and make him [Jamie]]look better,” he told Sky Vegas . “Ultimately, the routine was a bit average. It didn’t really have that much Argentine Tango in it. Maybe he couldn’t achieve what was being asked and so they had to simplify it? It simply wasn’t a very good dance.”
Prior to 30-year-old EastEnders actor Jamie’s most recent appearance in the ballroom, Brendan, who won the first ever series of Strictly with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky in 2004, had him down as a frontrunner in the BBC talent show this year. “He’s done some phenomenal dances,” he said. “I’ve really loved what he’s been up to so far, but on Saturday night, it was fairly average. He’s one of the frontrunners for me. If it’s not Chris [McCausland] winning. It probably should be him, but not on Saturday night’s performance.”
The current judges seemed to agree with Brendan’s verdict and Jamie received a score of 30 on the Leaderboard, which put him in joint bottom place alongside actor Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu. Despite this it was Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans and pro Katya Jones who ended up in the dance off, with Shayne eventually being voted out by head judge Shirley Ballas. Speaking to Jamie after the results, host Claudia Winkleman asked Jamie if he’d found it “bittersweet” to be voted through to the next round at the Blackpool Ballroom Tower because of how close he is to Wynne.
“Yeah it is a bit,” he replied. “You know, it’s such a strong competition and it would have been a shock anyone being in that dance-off tonight.” He also said he thought that part of the show should be changed. “I wish we could all go to Blackpool, it’s so horrible that someone’s got to go. I think we should just scrap that rule,” he added. Comedian Chris McCausland then quipped: “It’s a terrible show isn’t it?” prompting laughter from the other celebrities. Jamie agreed: “It is! It ruins the show!” as Claudia blankly stated: “I’ll tell the boss.”
After the show Jamie addressed his performance on Instagram with his fans and confessed he was finding his Strictly journey difficult. He posted: “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t healthily disappointed after last nights performance. I tried my absolute best and gave this week 100% as I promised my beloved @michelle_tsiak but I guess my best just fell short which is what the Striclty experience is all about. This is hard !!!! But it’s very important to not get to high when things are great and to not get to low when it doesn’t go the way we want.”
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