{"id":288893,"date":"2025-11-29T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288893\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:28:10","slug":"richard-madeley-unleashes-furious-rant-at-strictly-come-dancing-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288893\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Madeley unleashes furious rant at Strictly Come Dancing judges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley criticised Strictly Come Dancing judges on It Takes Two, saying Balvinder Sopal has been ‘consistently underrated and underscored’Daniel Bird<\/a> Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor<\/p>\n

20:29, 28 Nov 2025Updated 20:29, 28 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"RichardRichard leapt to the defence of EastEnders’ Balvinder Sopal(Image: itv)<\/p>\n

Richard Madeley<\/a> did not hold back during an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing<\/a>: It Takes Two. The Good Morning Britain<\/a> anchor made a brutal swipe at the judges over their treatment of EastEnders<\/a> actress, Balvinder Sopal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Appearing alongside Fleur East<\/a>, Richard maintained that Balvinder has been “consistently underrated and underscored” throughout the series – and he made his feelings crystal clear that the judges have got it badly wrong.<\/p>\n

In a moment that left viewers doing double-takes, Richard declared, “I think Balvinder had been consistently underrated and underserved.<\/p>\n

“She’s had good scores, but I think she’s been underscored by the judges, and she’s clearly been underrated by the viewers because she keeps ending up in the dance-off.”<\/p>\n

\"BalvinderBalvinder has appeared in the dance-off several times(Image: bbc)READ MORE: Desk chair that supports ‘for eight hours’ cut by \u00a3120 from Which? Best Buy brand<\/a>READ MORE: ‘I tested a ‘lawn mower’ personal grooming shaver before a date – it’s my best friend’<\/a><\/p>\n

He went on to say he’s “never understood” why she continues finding herself in the bottom two, stating: “I think she’s one of the best, I think she’s really good.”, reports the Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the praise came with a caveat. With Balvinder and partner Jules preparing to tackle a Jive tomorrow evening on the BBC<\/a> programme, Richard confessed he’s not entirely convinced the routine will play to her strengths.<\/p>\n

Describing her as “full of natural warmth and grace and charm,” he noted she’s “beautiful when she moves around the floor” – but expressed concern the rapid footwork might prove her downfall: “I’m not sure the jive is her thing, so I think she might struggle. I don’t think she’ll get a 10.”<\/p>\n

Viewers responded to the passionate outburst, with many backing the television personality. One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter<\/a>: “I actually kind of get where Richard is coming from with the Jive regarding Bal if I’m being honest.<\/p>\n

“Bal is warm & her movements are so lovely, which is opposite to what’s needed, I guess, with the jive. I think she’ll bring the energy tho & absolutely smash it. Go #TeamBalian”.<\/p>\n

Another echoed: “Also acknowledging that Bal has been underscored, underrated and didn’t deserve to be in the DOs. Absolutely all of this” And the timing couldn’t be worse.<\/p>\n

Balvinder is currently the bookmakers’ clear favourite to be eliminated this weekend – a bleak prediction that heaps additional pressure ahead of Saturday night.<\/p>\n

According to latest odds from Betway, she sits at 250\/1 to depart the competition, making her the most at-risk celebrity going into the live show.<\/p>\n

But she’s not the only one in troubled waters. Alex Kingston trails at 33\/1, whilst Amber Davies<\/a> stands at 20\/1 to bow out before the semi-final, which is now merely two weeks away.<\/p>\n

None of the trio can afford any mistakes, putting enormous emphasis on their upcoming performances. Meanwhile, the anticipated finalists appear far more secure.<\/p>\n

George Clarke, Karen Carney and Lewis Cope remain the favourites to reach the grand final. Also on tonight’s It Takes Two, Fleur welcomed Lewis & Katya and Alex & Johannes to the sofa. Alex is preparing to dance a Cha Cha Cha, while Sammi Kinghorn and Sara Davies also featured during the episode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley criticised Strictly Come Dancing judges on It Takes Two, saying Balvinder Sopal has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[91159,1078,96,59,31939,1598,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-288893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-balvinder-sopal","9":"tag-eastenders","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-gb","12":"tag-richard-madeley","13":"tag-strictly-come-dancing","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}