Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan has said the BBC has “gone too far” with casting those already trained in dancing as he shared his thoughts on Layton Williams this week. Layton and his dance partner Nikita Kuzmin topped the leaderboard last weekend after bagging a perfect 40 score for two consecutive weeks.
Throughout the show however, the 29-year-old has faced criticism for already being a professional dancer competing against those without experience. The West End star has repeatedly defended his right to be on the show, stressing that Ballroom and Latin is a far cry from what he already knows.
Now, James, 45, has shared his thoughts on Layton’s place on the show following his latest semi-final performances. Dancer James admitted the Charleston that hard-to-please judge Craig Revel Horwood stood up for was “epic”, but questioned: “Does it make it right? Is that what Strictly has come to where we’ve got fully trained dancers on the show?”
He added: “For me, it’s not what Strictly is supposed to be. It was so good, but then what is everyone else supposed to do?” The ex professional went on to stress that while he wasn’t hating on Layton, having a trained dancer in the competition makes it “confusing”.
He explained: “He’s a professional dancer and we’re watching performances that I know none of the professionals on that show could do as well as he did. How can that be?” Speaking on Hello! Magazine’s YouTube Channel, James added: “If he wins the show, good luck to him, but I don’t think it’s right. That’s all I’m saying, I think they’ve gone too far now. They’ve got too much dance traning.”
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Layton will fight for the Glitterball trophy this weekend against fellow competitors Ellie Leach and Bobby Brazier. As always however, the result solely comes down to the public vote and not the judges.
With this in mind, James encouraged people to vote for Layton if they believe he’s the best dancer, but said he would base his vote on who he thinks has improved and has impressed him the most from start to finish. Layton has performed in many West End shows such as Billy Elliot the Musical, Hairspray, Rent, and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie for over 16 years.
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He is also trained in jazz, tap, and ballet but recently stressed how the dance style on the show is not what he’s used to. Speaking on Kathy Burke’s Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake Podcast, he said: “I know the cameras are in the room when we’re doing the training, but I wish people could sit there and watch how hard it is for me just to grasp even the basics, especially because Niki is not exactly holding back.
“He’s giving me the hardest choreography. This stuff is not easy. And it doesn’t come to me like that, and people roll their eyes going ‘yeah, yeah’, but I’m really just working my a**e off like everybody else.
“So it is a little bit frustrating to hear that, but I’m trying to think about the bigger picture as to what else can I give to people.”
Strictly Come Dancing: The Final airs Saturday at 7pm on BBC One.
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