Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Vito Coppola has defended Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke, branding them the “top-level judges in the world”.
Stopping to speak to Express.co.uk on the red carpet at the Pride of Britain awards, the 31-year-old said: “I agree 110 percent with the judges. They are so expert and professional they’re like the top-level judges in the world.”
He continued: “So we respect them so much, and we take all their feedback and we work on it.
“Every single criticism is a constructive one, and it’s to make us do better and dance better, so we are more than happy to take it and to work on it.”
Vito is currently paired with Coronation Street actress Ellie Leach.
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His comments come after the show has faced a backlash for scoring contestants too low.
On Saturday, head judge Shirley Ballas was accused of underscoring Angela Scanlon.
The Irish TV presenter performed the Charleston to Who’s Got The Pain? From the film Damn Yankees with partner Carlos Gu for Movie Week.
Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all awarded Angela a score of nine, whilst Shirley gave her an eight.
One fan posted on X, formally known as Twitter: “Why on earth did Shirley give Angela an 8 when everyone else, including Craig, gave her a 9?!?!?!!!!!”
Whilst another wrote: “I’m not being funny but Shirley always votes the male contestants more than she should do and then when it comes to the women she votes very low scores like Carlos and Angela deserved at least a 9 from her it’s just sexist.”
And a third wrote: “Shirley undermarking Angela. Shock. Just admit you hate young women and go.”
Shirley was also criticised by fans the previous week for giving three of the female celebrities low scores.
Our reporter also asked Vito whether he would ever consider swapping the dancefloor for the judging panel.
He said: “Oh that would be a big dream but I feel like I’m still at the beginning. I’ve just come from Italy so I honestly don’t know.”
Before going on to say: “But they’re the best example to follow, for me, it would eventually be a pleasure and an honour one day but now let’s keep my feet on the ground as I’m still on my 2nd-year in the series.”