Anton Du Beke has found himself at the centre of a “fix” row among disgruntled BBC Strictly viewers following Saturday’s first live show of the series.
On Saturday, De Beke returned to the judging alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, and Motsi Mabuse to witness the debut dances from this year’s cast.
Week one was a night full of talking points, from Mabuse’s furious reaction to Revel Horwood’s critique of Amy Dowden and JB Gill to Claudia Winkleman’s eye-catching ensemble.
However, the routines from this year’s crops of celebrity contestant also got fans talking at home – although not as much as the judges’ scores.
At the end of the night, Gill and Dowden topped the leaderboard with a score of 31, narrowly ahead of Tasha Ghouri and Sarah Hadland’s 30 apiece with their pro partners Aljaz Skorjanec and Vito Coppola, respectively.
The foot of the leaderboard saw Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones prop up their cast mates with a lowly score of 12.
The singer was left adrift from the likes of Pete Wicks and Paul Merson who occupied the spots above them with scores of 17 apiece.
While all four judges’ scores piqued interest, Du Beke, in particular, was accused of showing favouritism with some of his critique.
Gill received his highest score of the night with eight while he awarded Chris McCausland, Montell Douglas, Wynne Evans, Sarah Hadland, Ghouri scores of seven.
Jamie Borthwick, Merson, Tom Dean, and Shayne Ward all received scores of six from the long-serving Strictly star while fives were awards to Punam Krishan, Wicks, Sam Quek, and Knowles.
Willcox was the only contestant to have Du Beke reaching for the lowly four paddle following her routine with Jones.
The decision to score Merson higher than Sam Quek and on par with Borthwick, as well as judging Knowles to be equal with Krishan and Quek sparked fierce debate online.
Taking to social media during the show and in the days since, fans have flooded X with their baffled reactions.
One X user fumed: “6?! Anton Du Beke scored Paul Merson more than Sam Quek?! What a joke!! #Strictly.”
A second echoed: “Did Anton really think that Sam’s foxtrot was worthy of the same score as Nick’s jive? #strictly.”
“Anton scoring Paul Merson higher than Sam Quek is just absolutely ridiculous #Strictly,” a third weighed in.
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While a fourth hit out: “Anton gave the lowest score for Sam and Nikita?! Is he feeling ok? Someone check on him. #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing.”
“Anton thinks Nick was as good as Sam? OK then….#Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing,” a fifth confused viewer penned.
Before a sixth weighed in: “Can’t believe Anton gave Sam and Nick 5’s. Sam was much better. #fix #Strictly.” (sic)
Fans will have to tune into week two to see if Du Beke’s scoring remains consistent, although the routines and song choices for the episode have already sparked debate among diehard fans.
