Strictly judge Shirley Ballas hits back at trolls and defends winner after calls for her to be axed
STRICTLY Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas hit back at trolls after calls for her to be axed.
The former international champion Latin dancer took to her social media profile as she defended the long-running dancing competition.
Shirley, 64, has been a judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017, replacing head judge Len Goodman.
However, one cruel troll called for the long-running star to be axed as they took to X, formerly known as Twitter.
They posted: “Make the most of what should be your last show!!”
Shirley was not taking the insult lying down as she joked back: “Thank you I will. Hope you enjoyed the show and found it positive.”
Another viewer slammed Strictly as a show as they commented: “I would rather defrost my freezer than watch that c***.”
In response, the TV personality sarcastically enquired: “Have you still not defrosted that freezer of yours. You said you where doing it week 3 lol.”
Another angry user was not at all happy that comedian Chris McCausland took home the glitterball trophy.
He beat fellow finalists Sarah Hadland, Tasha Ghouri and singer JB Gill in the final, which was branded the ‘most emotional’ of all time.
Their awkward tweet read: “Worst dancer won again so won’t be watching next year and yes I know it was the public and not blaming you for that.
“I would be interested to know how you feel about someone winning just because they were blind?”
To which Shirley defended the public’s decision, writing: “I have total respect for the viewers opinions. Millions voted and everyone has their favorites.
“For me they all danced simply brilliant. A huge congratulations to our winners. All our finalists and to all who took part.
She added: “I’m waking up feeling happy. Have a beautiful day.”
In an additional post, the star left gushing praise for the first ever blind winner of the long-running BBC competition.
All your Strictly Come Dancing winners
Strictly first kicked off back in 2004, and over the years has crowned 21 winners.
Here is a full list of who has been lucky enough to win the famous Glitterball Trophy:
- 2004 – Natasha Kaplinsky
- 2004 – Jill Halfpenny
- 2005 – Darren Gough
- 2006 – Mark Ramprakash
- 2007 – Alesha Dixon
- 2008 – Tom Chambers
- 2009 – Chris Hollins
- 2010 – Kara Tointon
- 2011 – Harry Judd
- 2012 – Louis Smith
- 2013 – Abbey Clancy
- 2014 – Caroline Flack
- 2015 – Jay McGuiness
- 2016 – Ore Oduba
- 2017 – Joe McFadden
- 2018 – Stacey Dooley
- 2019 – Kelvin Fletcher
- 2020 – Bill Bailey
- 2021 – Rose Ayling-Ellis
- 2022 – Hamza Yassin
- 2023 – Ellie Leach
- 2024 – Chris McCausland
The 2024 series of Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch back on BBC iPlayer.