Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Shirley Ballas made quite an impact when she travelled across the Atlantic to guest judge on the American version of the show Dancing With The Stars.
During her stint on the Dancing With The Stars panel, Shirley drew backlash when she brought her brand of harsh criticism to the US ballroom, giving many of the celebrity contestants lower scores than her fellow judges.
After causing a stir with her stingy scoring, the Queen of Latin has doubled down on her critiques, speaking to Good Morning America moments after the live show ended.
Ser Baffo via Disney via Getty Images
When asked about her tough judging on Dancing With The Stars, Shirley defended herself, pointing out: “[I’ve been] on Strictly Come Dancing for 10 years in Great Britain, and I always believe whatever’s in my heart I have to put forward, and there’s always a place for somebody to grow.”
She also explained why she was less keen on giving out 10s than her fellow judges, Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba.
“If you’re giving out 10s every week, where are they gonna grow to?” she questioned. “So, I like to give [the celebrities] hope, and to also give them a good understanding about the level, to my experienced eye, that’s where they’re at.”
The former dancing champ then candidly admitted: “I’m not very good at doing fluff. It’s very straight down the line for me.”
Shirley specifically came under fire for scoring actors Julia Stiles and Tatyana Ali four points each, when the other judges marked them both with sevens and eights.
“That’s what I saw,” she said, advocating for herself. “I mean, a four for me is a great score.
“When they get a four and a five in England, they’re like, ‘Yay!’. I could obviously tell here that four was a paddle you’re definitely not used to seeing.”
Speaking to fellow judge Derek Hough on Extra TV, she revealed she’d even considered giving a score of three at one point on the night.
The judge also maintained she saw her comments as helpful rather than mean.
She told Derek – who she had helped train as a young dancer – that with her experience in the ballroom, she sees her judging as “a little critique, a nugget they can take forward.”
After the episode aired, Shirley also took to social media to make light of her controversial appearance on the US reality show.
“I think I might have given my fellow judges a jump scare,” she captioned an Instagram post of a video of her infamous four-paddle reveal, which received a gasp from the ballroom.
In another post, she clipped the moment her infamous tiny shoes made their American TV debut.
“My Craigy would be ROFL,” she captioned, in reference to her fellow Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood’s disdain for the frequently-used prop.
Shirley Ballas returns to Strictly Come Dancing this Saturday for the much-anticipated Halloween special.
During this Sunday’s results show, a suitably chilling new twist will see three couples facing the dance-off to fight for their place in the competition, in lieu of the usual two, with the judges then deciding which of them to send home, rather than save.
