Strictly viewers condemn ‘out of order’ judging as Katie Piper close to tears

Strictly Come Dancing fans have hit out at the judges after Katie Piper appeared close to tears at their comments.

She performed a paso doble to Confident by Demi Lovato, with her professional partner Gorka Marquez, but failed to impress the panel of experts.

Craig Revel Horwood branded her performance “very stomp-y” and “very plank-ish”, while head judge Shirley Ballas said: “You have channelled your inner strength and you looked like it was going to go well, and then you got on the wrong foot pretty much straight away and couldn’t get it back.”

Bruno Tonioli told her she took the right direction but failed to play the part.

Piper was visibly upset when she was scored just two points by Revel Horwood, three by Ballas and four by Bussell and Tonioli, for a combined total of 13.

One fan wrote on Twitter: “Just me or was Bruno out of order then with his comments? There’s just no need to be that rude when she’s clearly nervous and not very confident.”

Another fan said: “Katie’s dance wasn’t any worse than Stacey’s and she got much more harsh criticism… a bit unfair I’d say.”

Another viewer said: “Poor Katie Piper. Unhelpful brutal judgey comments.”

Another said: “Just catching up. Poor Katie Piper, she was hurt and upset, these judges need to remember some contestants have never danced before ( how it should be not like Ashley).”

Another tweeted: “Oh katie you can see she was really upset by the comments and scores you could see how tearful she was getting #strictly I think she’s amazing.”

Speaking to Claudia Winkleman after her performance, Piper said: “No matter what the judges said, I had fun,” but she appeared to be fighting back tears.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One on Sunday at 7.15pm.