The 30-year-old former JLS star was one of last year’s Strictly Come Dancing frontrunners before he and his professional partner Janette Manrara, 35, were booted off the series after going head-to-head with Mollie King, 31, and AJ Pritchard, 24, in the dance off in week seven. The controversial elimination went down in Strictly history, and it seems Aston Merrygold hasn’t forgotten the details of that fateful results show. “Craig [Revel Horwood] gave me a four,” he recalled. “Can he justify that? Not really, I don’t think so, personally.
“Anton [Du Beke] and Ruth [Langsford] got a four from him and they fell over in their routine and ended up on the floor,” Aston continued. “Was my routine bad enough that it matched with someone who had fallen over?”
Hitting out at the judges, including 53-year-old Craig, he blamed a lack of consistency in their marking for his early exit.
“There wasn’t really any consistency there,” he told Metro, warning Craig: “With respect, maybe think about the score a little more.”
The Strictly star said he still found the judges’ comments and scores “harsh” when he watched the show back, adding: “They were hard on me last year.”
Aston said he “doesn’t blame” head judge Shirley Ballas, 57, for sealing his fate by voting to save Mollie and AJ.
Both she and Craig cast their votes in favour of the other pair, while Darcey Bussell, 49, and Bruno Tonioli, 63, opted to save Aston and Janette.
Craig previously told The Sun he stood by his decision, saying: “We didn’t put him in the bottom two, the audience did.
“I gave a list of what was wrong with it on the night. And Mollie did a better dance in the dance off.”
However, he recently told It Takes Two host Zoe Ball, 48, he thought Aston had been “robbed” as he said the popstar was among those he was most looking forward to seeing this Christmas Day.
“I thought he was rather robbed, you know, on the show,” he said.
“He just got a dance on that show that didn’t really suit him, and he was up against a Ballroom dance. And he’s a fantastic dancer and I want to see him dance more!”
Tonight, the duo will reunite for the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.
They are set to perform a Nutcracker-themed Jive for the festive instalment of the much-loved BBC series.
When he shared a sneak peek at their routine with his 287,000 Instagram followers yesterday, fans flooded to the comments section to share their excitement to see Aston back on screens.
“Definitely unfinished business,” one wrote, while another said: “We can’t wait to see this and we’re looking forward to it.”
“I hope you guys win the Christmas special,” a third added,
The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special airs today at 5.30pm on BBC One.