AJ Pritchard defends Strictly judge Shirley Ballas as fans demand she’s axed

AJ Pritchard has called Shirley Ballas "the most qualified" judge on Strictly Come Dancing after fans demanded she be sacked from the role over concerns she was favouring male celebrities on the show.

Shirley, 62, was accused of being "sexist" after explaining she would have saved Richie Anderson, 34, and his pro partner Giovanni Pernice, 32, on Sunday 9 October night following their dance off with Fleur East, 34, and Vito Coppola, 30.

She's since hit out at the trolls on several occasions and now 27 year old AJ has come to her defence as well.

The former Strictly professional dancer, who recently clashed with Jeremy Kyle as he labelled the programme "so woke it's unwatchable", opened up to OK! magazine about the ongoing drama in an exclusive interview.


"For me, Shirley is so passionate about the technique that is Ballroom and Latin and she's so qualified for that job," he explained to OK!. "She was one of my Latin teachers – I was in awe of her because every single time I had a lesson, I'd think, 'I can't get any more information out of this person', and should give a new technique, a new style, a new observation of Ballroom and Latin dancing."

AJ went on to explain that her role on the judging panel is "really important" as she is the "most qualified judge that you can have in the whole of the world".

When asked if he had ever observed any kind of favouritism towards the male celebrities while he was part of the show, he simply replied: "No, I don't think so."

He then shared his views on how Shirley operates as he said: "I think Shirley is very honest.

"So say if I was dancing with Saffron [Barker], and that final year, it'd be like one week she actually loves you because you do your heel turn and it's beautiful. The next week, 'Well your arms are a bit funny, so we need to work on that'.

"Whether that be for a man, a woman, it's that same kind of side."

Playfully criticising the current series, he added: "I think, if anything, all of the judges this year, and Craig seem so happy. Everybody's a bit too happy. I'm like, 'No, it's 1234. You need to be a bit more technical, not kind of harsh, but straight to the point'.

"And then we want to see them grow more."

It comes after Shirley recently spoke out on her decision to save Richie as she appeared on Loose Women on 12 October to say: "It builds up from the beginning, there was a lot of trolling.

“Sometimes when you watch your TV screen, you only see half of what I'm seeing.”

Shirley also spoke to the accusation that she’s sexist, explaining: "I have to judge what I like… it's a tough industry and it always get a bit emotional.

"I do read everything [online] but I think it's quite important… it is really hurtful, some of the language is so explicit, it's unfathomable."

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