Fleur East has vowed to 'work harder' on Strictly Come Dancing, after she landed in the bottom two at the weekend. And the singer's vow comes as fans remain angry with Shirley Ballas for saying she would have chosen to save Richie Anderson, rather than Fleur.
The minute her name appeared on the Strictly line-up for this year, bookies had former X Factor finalist Fleur as the red hot favourite to triumph in the BBC ballroom, with many viewers also predicting big things for her and professional partner Vito Coppola. However, after being taken by TV host Helen Skelton in the odds, hours before the first live show last month, bookies think Fleur's chances of winning are 'fading,' with her scores not being as high as many were initially expecting.
While Fleur and Vito have been nowhere near the bottom of the leaderboard, they have been in the shadow of higher scorers like Tyler West and Dianne Buswell, Molly Rainsford and Carlos Gu and Will Mellor and Nancy Xu. While Strictly rivals like Helen and former Hear'Say star Kym Marsh got their highest scores yet for Movie Week, Fleur ended up in the dreaded dance-off, alongside RIchie Anderson.
READ MORE: Strictly's Carlos Gu deletes Instagram post after 'spoiling' this week's result
After Fleur and Vito and Richie and pro partner Giovanni Pernice danced again, it was Fleur who received the lion's share of the judges votes, with only Shirley backing RIchie. Taking to Instagram after the results show aired on Sunday night, Fleur wrote: "So grateful to be saved by the judges this week. But so so sad to say goodbye to my friend @iamrichieanderson. thank you so much for your messages of support. We will work harder this week and do our absolute best on the dance floor."
Fleur's dignified response to being in the dance-off, comes as fans continue to condemn Shirley for her decision, with many suggesting that the head judge 'has an issue' with Fleur. As credits rolled on Sunday's episode, one took to Twitter to ask: "What is Shirley’s problem with Fleur??" A second commented: "i cant believe shirley saw, with her own eyes, both of those dances and somehow decided that richie was better than fleur. she is actually insane," with a third reacting: "I’m really sick of seeing Shirley shade Fleur East every single week. Shirley really is threatened by younger, beautiful and talented women. It’s become a thing in previous series. NOT HERE FOR SHIRLEY"
