Strictly 2022 biggest controversies – expletive mix-up, 'Strictly mole' and shock exit

The Strictly Come Dancing 2022 final gets underway this weekend, as the last four celebrities hope to lift the glitterball trophy.

However, the latest series has not been without its controversies.

There have been shock eliminations, Anton Du Beke hitting out at the “Strictly mole” and an expletives mix-up during musical week.

READ MORE: Strictly bosses ‘out of step’ as fans call for ‘unfair’ dances to be axed from final

That’s not all, as fans were left frustrated when the semi-finals were moved due to The World Cup 2022.

Ahead of the Strictly final, Daily Star takes a closer look at the biggest controversies from this year’s series.

Expletives mix-up

The Strictly quarter-finals saw the celebrities and professional dancers take on musical week – but one segment led to complaints from the public.

Viewers were shocked when the opening number appeared to include an expletive, as the dancers performed part of an opening song from hit musical Hamilton.

Fans flocked to social media to discuss the performance, with one tweeting: “In the Hamilton piece, did they just sing [expletive] before the watershed on BBC One?”

“Ooh, was that a swearword in that Hamilton song? *cue complaint letters*,” added a second person, while a third wrote: “Can’t believe they got a swear word from Hamilton through the filters. I love this week already.”

However, the BBC soon addressed the controversy around the supposed expletive, and confirmed that no swear words were included in the performance as the lyrics had been changed.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “There was no swearing, the lyrics were changed from the original and the singer said ‘ship spray’.”

Strictly mole

Some fans were left furious, after the Strictly results were leaked by a so-called “mole” during early episodes of the competition.

Following the leaks, judge Anton Du Beke urged the infamous Strictly mole to stop leaking the results ahead of the Sunday night show.

While appearing on ITV’s Loose Women on October 18, Anton expressed his frustrations regarding the fact that some viewers may discover who leaves the show before it is aired on BBC One.

He said: “It gets on my nerves. Please stop. I don’t know who you are but please stop. Don’t do it. Why would you do it? Nobody knows who it is.

“The audience, like the people who go to [Agatha Christie murder mystery play] The Mousetrap for example, which has been going for years, we’re all in it together.”

Anton continued: “Knowledge is power and all that sort of stuff, everyone has an agreement we won’t say anything, so I don’t know who does it.

“They call you a spoiler for a reason – because you’re a spoiler. Don’t do it… Try to stop spoiling it please, because people don’t want to know.”

However, the so-called mole, who publishes the results on a Strictly spoiler website, was reported as telling Mail Online: “I’m just providing a service and am not spoiling anyone’s enjoyment.

“I don’t put the results for everyone to see and they have to search for my site to find out the results.

They added: “There is an appetite from people who want to know the results before Sunday.

“It could be argued that the BBC is to blame for recording something which is of massive interest the day before.”

Will Mellor’s exit

One of the most recent controversies occurred when Coronation Street actor Will Mellor was eliminated from the programme during the semi-finals.

He and professional dance partner Nancy Xu departed the competition following a dance off against Fleur East and Vito Coppola, with the couples being award 70 and 74 respectively by the judges.

However, fans were not best pleased with the decision, saying that the “wrong decision” had been made by the judges.

One said: “Annoyed that only Anton followed the rules for the dance-off. Will’s first dance-off and left and Fleur has been in loads and messed up. Wrong decision.”

Another said: “Based on the ‘dance-off alone’ – someone should tell Shirley the rules. Will’s timing was perfection, Fleur made mistakes so why did Shirley save Fleur? Anton saw the mistakes, the public saw the mistakes – let’s keep it about the dancing please.”

A third wrote: “What a joke! Anton was right there was a mistake! So why did they vote Will off?” while a fourth said: “Unbelievable – how can you make a mistake in the dance-off and still go through? Strictly judges you should be ashamed!”

Will later addressed the backlash to his elimination during Strictly spin-off programme It Takes Two, saying: “It was tough doing two dances. It was really tough.

“My brain struggles with one dance a week – my brain can’t take in two things at once, and obviously it was the semi-finals, so it was tough. There was pressure. But, you know, I thought we were ready.”

Although the star was hoping to reach the final, there was one other thing that mattered to him more than anything – pleasing his dance partner.

Will continued: “I am just human. Anybody who meets me, you get to meet me. I don’t have another person I can put in.

“We had worked so hard, we had got so far in the competition, and I beat myself up. I was too harsh on myself.

“What I always said was I wanted this lady next to me to be happy and to be proud. That was what mattered to me.”

World Cup 2022 chaos

One of the most highly anticipated programmes of the year aired at the same time as one of the biggest sporting competitions too – The World Cup.

The Strictly semi-finals were subsequently moved to Sunday December 11, with the results show airing one day later, but fans were not best pleased.

Taking to social media once more, viewers expressed their frustrations at the programme being rescheduled to accommodate World Cup matches, with one saying: “Why not just put it on BBC2 for everyone who doesn’t want to watch the football?!?”

A second asked: “Why can’t the football be shown on BBC2? Not everyone wants to rearrange their viewing around the World Cup!! There must be just as many BBC viewers not interested in watching the football.”

“This is ridiculous. Use one of the other BBC channels. No one wants to watch strictly on a work/school night,” agreed a third.

However, the semi-final went ahead on its new date, with host Tess Daly sharing her excitement for the programme to be broadcast live for the first time on a Sunday night.

Taking to Instagram, Tess shared a photograph of herself on the way to the Strictly studios, captioning the post: “Off to rehearsal’s, because for the first time ever…we’re going live on Sunday night!”

‘Restarting dance’

Following the Halloween week results show, the BBC addressed reports that X-Factor star Fleur East and her professional dance partner Vito Coppola were allowed to restart their performance during the dance-off.

Fleur found herself in the bottom two for her Salsa to Beyonce’s Break My Soul, with the singer going up against EastEnders Martin Fowler star James Bye in the dance off.

However, it was reported that the duo had restarted their performance again, following an accident involving a prop – but that the incident was not shown on air.

The BBC later responded to the reports, with a spokesperson telling The Daily Express: “After an incident with a prop at the beginning of Fleur and Vito’s dance-off performance, the decision was made to halt proceedings to check they were not injured, as a matter of urgency.

“As they had not begun to dance before the incident occurred, it was decided they could start the performance again, once it was confirmed they were fit to do so.”

The Radio Times also confirmed that the show’s director had decided to stop the music and the performance, and that the decision was not influenced by either Fleur or Vito.

Fleur and Vito later addressed the claims during an appearance on Loose Women, with Vito saying: “Basically what happened, in the first few seconds of our number, I just fell down on the chair.

“Literally was a bad fall. Everyone was gasping, but I showed them I was okay and able to restart so thank you – I’m fine, I’m here today so all good. Thank you very much.”

It is not the first time that dances have been halted and re-started in the show’s history for health and safety reasons, with Blue’s Lee Ryan encountering an incident with a prop during one of his dance routines in 2018.

Matt Goss “robbed”

Strictly has seen a number of famous celebrities take to the dance floor for its latest series, including Bros singer Matt Goss.

However, after he and professional dance partner Nadiya Bychkova performed a quick step to Sir Duke during the first live episode of the series, many fans thought they were “robbed.”

The pair were awarded a total of 20 points out of 40, with judge Anton Du Beke saying that while Matt’s “feet, timing and musicality” were good, “unfortunately, you looked like an unmade bed.”

Judge Shirley Ballas also had mixed praise for the routine, saying: “You’re beautifully groomed, you’ve got a lot of swag and you definitely have a lot of potential.

“But for me, it fell a little bit apart. I’m looking for something… Is it the feet? Maybe it’s the knees? Maybe it’s the body position? The frame got lost, you were moving, rattling a little bit between the two of you.”

However, fans certainly did not agree and thought the singer had been “robbed,” of points, with one tweeting: “Matt Goss really under-marked there.”

A second agreed, saying: “Matt Goss was under-marked he was decent for week one.”

A third said: “Somebody call the police because Matt Goss has been robbed tonight in Elstree.”

A fourth commented: “I thought that comment was so rude!” while a fifth added: “Matt Goss quickstep literally one of best dances so far tonight, and gets the lowest score so far from the judges. What the?!? Some very random scoring tonight.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk