Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas left fans reeling when she called pro dancer Dianne Buswell by the wrong name.
Shirley joined the hit BBC dancing show in the same year as Dianne, 2017, and the pair have starred alongside eachother for six years.
But it didn’t stop judge Shirley from getting her co-star’s first name wrong in front of the cameras on Saturday night (October 22) during TV theme week.
READ MORE:Strictly’s Tony Adams tells Shirley Ballas to ‘go home’ as he blasts ‘unfair’ score
She made the awkward name blunder right after Dianne and Kiss FM radio DJ Tyler West danced their Tango to the Doctor Who theme.
(Image: BBC)
Tyler and Dianne clearly impressed the panel as they scored 32 points from Shirley and fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
But whilst praising Dianne, Shirley seemed to suffer a slip of the tongue as she appeared to refer to Dianne as ‘Diana’.
She said: “I was very very very impressed, Diana, when you moved away and then you had to spin and he picked you up within a blink of an eye.”
(Image: BBC)
Fans were quick to spot Shirley’s name gaffe and rushed to Twitter to complain about it, with some branding the blunder “disrespectful”.
One fan fumed: “Shirley still calling Dianne Dianna after 6 years of being on the show is so disrespectful.”
It prompted another viewer to agree: “Dianna? The disrespect.”
A third asked: “When did Dianne change her name to Diana as that is what Shirley called her.”
(Image: BBC)
A fourth complained: “Also Shirley called Dianne ‘Dianna’, they’ve only been on the same show for 6 years.”
A fifth quipped: “If Shirley’s going to call Dianne Diana, then I think the least we can do is call her Shelley.”
It was former BGT star Molly Rainford and comedian Jayde Adams who landed in the dreaded dance off on Sunday, but Jayde became the latest star to get the chop.
Fans spotted Dianne looking visibly emotional on the sidelines with one arm wrapped around Tyler as she awaited Tess’ final announcement.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
