BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas breaks silence on exit fears after 'vitriol and awful messages'

Shirley Ballas, amid speculation about her potential exit from Strictly Come Dancing, has delivered a sharp retort to her online critics. The head judge found herself at the centre of controversy after opting to save opera singer Wynne Evans over Coronation Street's Shayne Ward in the latest dance-off, which aired on Sunday (November 10).

Following the episode, fans of the hit BBC One series have voiced their disapproval of her decision, with some even launching a petition for her removal, alleging repeated favouritism throughout the 2024 season of Strictly Come Dancing. Although Shirley, 64, initially hinted at stepping down from her role in response to the criticism, she has now taken a stand against the "vitriol and awful messages" directed at her, addressing her followers on Instagram this Tuesday (November 12).

From her hotel in Gibraltar, where she is promoting her new book and looking forward to visiting the Rock of Gibraltar and its monkeys, Shirley expressed: "Hi everyone, I'm currently in Gibraltar for a couple of days, promoting my new book. I'm going to see the Rock of Gibraltar and all the monkeys, I'm excited about that."

She continued by expressing gratitude towards those who sent supportive messages: "But I'm mainly on today because I wanted to thank you all for reaching out with your beautiful messages. For you know, for the handful of vitriol and awful messages I got, I got thousands of supporting messages and that really made my day. So I appreciate that. Anyway, I'm looking forward to Blackpool next week."

She said, "I shall be doing a book event at the Winter Gardens on Friday and then we'll have the competition on Saturday in the Tower Ballroom. So I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of you outside that stand and want to say hello.", reports the Mirror.

Before concluding her update with an affectionate sign-off: "But again, you know, hugs from me to you because you sure made me feel better this week. To each and every one of you that understand the show, I love you. Take care."

Following Shirley Ballas' experience with social media criticism after Shayne Ward and his dance partner Nancy Xu were voted off, particularly from someone named X, who wrote, "Can we start a petition to get Shirley off this show, she doesn't even bother trying to conceal her favouritism anymore and she's head judge? ? It's just not fair on the other contestants #strictly."

Ballas wittily replied, "Where do I sign lol. Night night". This prompted concerns from Strictly fans who feared that she might be considering leaving the show.

Meanwhile, former disgraced dancer Graziano Di Prima has come back into the public eye after breaking his social media silence, having left the show months earlier. Di Prima posted a striking video on Instagram where he is seen walking over a brightly lit bridge accompanied by his wife Giada Lini.

He attached a strong message with the video, making a statement without saying a word.