Shirley Ballas sparks outrage with ‘irritating’ habit as BBC Strictly fans plead with star: ‘It needs to stop!’

Shirley Ballas has been branded “unwatchable” by a number of irked Strictly Come Dancing fans following Saturday’s Halloween extravaganza.

As is usual for the BBC dance competition, the annual spectacle saw the contestants, pro dancers and judges alike don their creepy costumes in keeping with the time of the year.

Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood joined forces for a Shining-inspired double-act while Motsi Mabuse channeled her inner Cruella de Vil.

Ballas, meanwhile, took inspiration from the creepy kids’ classic, Hocus Pocus, opting to dress as antagonist Winifred Sanderson.

And Ballas did her best to stay in character, having her hair styled in the style of Winifred’s iconic ginger bouffant.

Ballas even went as far as to purse her lips throughout the show and exaggerate the annunciation of several words to resemble Winifred as much as possible.

However, as Saturday night’s show progressed, it’s safe to say not all BBC viewers at home were as impressed with Ballas’ impersonation.

In fact, many pleaded with the head judge to “stop” mimicking the Disney character and deliver her critique in her usual demeanour, much like her fellow judges had done.

On X, formerly Twitter, complaints were aplenty, with one fan hitting out: “No Shirley needs to stop this. It’s grating on me. #strictly.”

“Shirley’s diction is really irritating tonight #strictly,” a second complained while a third echoed: “Shirley… stop trying to win an Oscar, and just bl**dy judge! #strictly.”

Elsewhere, a fourth slammed: “Shirley’s Winnifred impression wore extremely thin after the first 3 seconds and dear god is she committed to that bit – too far gone to back out now and we must all suffer. #strictly.”

And a fifth concurred: “Shirley Ballas trying to act is p-ain-ful, darling! #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing.”

“Shirley staying in character is almost unwatchable. #strictly,” a sixth brutally surmised.

However, some enjoyed Ballas’ commitment to the part, including one viewer who hit back: “What I respect about Shirley is if she’s giving a character she is COMMITTED to her character.

“She will speak like that character all night, pull out the references. Gotta give her props! #strictly.” (sic)

It wasn’t just Ballas’ delivery of her critique that got on the wrong side of viewers as some of her scores also managed to irk the public – particularly those given to Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell.

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The comedian ended up joint-bottom of the leaderboard alongside Punam Krishan after scoring 26 for his Samba.

Ballas, Mabuse, and Du Beke awarded McCausland scores of seven while Revel Horwood lifted his five paddle.

The scores from all four judges prompted several fans to flock to social media to accuse them of “underscoring” the blind comic.

Meanwhile, Jamie Borthwick and Sarah Hadland were tied at the top of the leaderboard with scores of 38 apiece.