Brendan Cole wades into Strictly fix row after Jamie Borthwick’s previous show success is branded ‘unfair’
BRENDAN Cole has had his say on the latest Strictly Come Dancing fix row after new signing Jamie Borthwick’s previous success was questioned.
EastEnders star Jamie, 30, is one of the celebrities currently taking part in Strictly Come Dancing.
But some viewers have pointed out that Jamie won the most recent Christmas special, suggesting he has an unfair advantage.
Now former professional Brendan, 48 – who quit the show in 2017 – has shared his thoughts.
Speaking to Sky Vegas, he said: “It’s absolutely fair [to have celebs who have competed on the Christmas special].
“There’s no reason why just because you’ve done one four-week stint on a show, you’re getting an advantage. The only advantage you get is, you know the nerves from the first time out.
“Strictly is more than learning one dance, there’s so much that goes into it and when you’ve got to learn a new dance every week, it becomes very hard.”
Brendan continued: “It’s more like a nice buffer for the first show, because you’ve already experienced it. But ultimately, learning one dance doesn’t change.
“And also, doing a Christmas special is very different to the main show. It’s all very light and fluffy, everyone gets nines and tens. It’s just Christmas fun, so you can’t really compare the two shows.”
After it was revealed Jamie would be taking part in the current series of Strictly, many fans joked that he’s definitely going to win because of his previous stint.
Writing on social media, one said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner.”
Someone else said: “We’ve seen on the Christmas special that he’s a great dancer. I’m predicting he’ll be a finalist. He might even win.
“The pattern in Strictly tends to be the alternate gender winning from the gender the year before. Ellie won last year, prior to Ellie, Hamza won, prior to him, Rose won…. you get the drift.”
Another person questioned: “Then why did he do the Christmas special if he was just going to do the main show anyway??”