Strictly's Shirley Ballas startles viewers with new look as she issues 'awkward' voting plea

Shirley Ballas suffered an awkward start to Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing as she issued a plea to viewers to get voting if they wanted to keep their favourites in the show, while they were left started by her 'new look.'

Millions of viewers tuned into the first Strictly live show last week to see the likes of Fleur East, Helen Skelton and Will Mellor in action. However, while some of this year's Strictly line-up didn't get the scores they were hoping for, no-one one left the programme in week one.

That all changes in week two, with the first results show of 2022 airing on Sunday night and bookies predicting that it will be either Tony Adams or Kaye Adams who gets the boot. Strictly presenter Tess Daly handed over to Shirley right at the start of Saturday's live episode to remind fans at home that they had a big part to play, with the outcome of which couples goes home based on a combination of judges' scores and viewers vote.

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While she initially didn't seem prepared to talk to Tess, with a rather awkward pause at first, Shirley eventually said: "I just want to say to all the people at home, who are experts, please, please vote this evening. I really don't want to send anyone home, please do it for us."

As well as being left baffled by Shirley's slow response to Tess, viewers also couldn't stop talking about head judge Shirley's new look, which saw her dressed in hot pink and debuting a very different hair style, with some help from a wig.

One viewer too to Twitter to post: " #ShirleyBallas you’ve found the perfect hairstyle! Youthful and interesting," with a second reacting: "FYI SHIRLEY. loving the hair tonight. It takes years off you."

In the hours before Strictly went on air, Shirley took to social media to get advice from fans on her outfit, saying she was slightly concerned about stepping out of her comfort zone outfit wise.

And then Shirley referenced her earlier slip up when she was giving her feedback to James Bye, telling him: "I've had a few glitches tonight!"

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