James Jordan has offered his view on Strictly Come Dancing's fix row, warning celebrities who want to give the show a go that they won't stand a chance if they are not already trained dancers.
The BBC One contest is only just heading into the third week of live shows, but is already facing a familiar controversy with critics complaining that some of the celebrity contestants have a huge advantage as they have had professional training in the past.
Coming under fire this year are actor Layton Williams, who has starred in the West End and worked as a dancer, and TV presenter Angela Scanlon who used to perform with the O'Shea Irish Dance Company.
James, 45, has been an outspoken critic of Strictly in the past, often tweeting his disagreement with the judges' scoring and complaining that some contestants have had too much past experience performing.
Now, he has told Hello! that while he loved Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin's leaderboard-topping Quickstep on Saturday night, it might not have been fair on their competitors.
James, whose wife Ola Jordan is also a former Strictly pro, said: "He is a fully trained, professional dancer. When they came out, you had essentially two professional dancers next to each other.
"Let's not say, 'oh it's because (Layton's) really talented and has worked really hard'. Because that kind of belittles our dancing world that someone can come out and be that good after a week's training. You can't."
James added that while the routine was one of his favourite dances he had ever seen on Strictly, he felt the reason it had been so good was because of Layton's professional training.
And he went even further by saying that he felt the show had signed up too many professional dancers to the celebrity cast now.
He even issued a stark warning to celebrities thinking of taking part in future series, saying: "I would actually say to anyone thinking of doing Strictly, 'don't do Strictly unless you're dance trained in some shape or form because you don't have a chance'."
James is no stranger to the controversy himself, as in 2012 he reached the Strictly final with partner Denise Van Outen, who has starred in various West End shows.
After leaving his role on Strictly, James went on to take part in a number of reality TV shows including the 2019 series of Dancing On Ice, which he won.
He had no experience as a skater, but at the time critics complained that James had a significant advantage over his co-stars because he had spent so many years as a professional dancer.
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