Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Helen George has weighed in on the ongoing fixing furore, claiming producers have to create drama because it is an entertainment show. The Call The Midwife actress, who was evicted in the quarter-finals, told The Sun: 'It is a dance show and a television show so there has to be drama and it has to be somewhat controlled for it to fit the format.'
Helen, 31, was eliminated after rival Georgia May Foote outperformed her in the dance-off. Reflecting on her departure, she said: 'It is TV and it is a show and I enjoyed my time on it. I was quite tired as well. It was quite nice to go home and sit on the sofa for a couple of days. Georgia did a lovely dance and they asked me to do certain things in the final in the dance off and I felt I did those and I felt it just didn't go my way on the night.'
The fixing allegations were initially raised by former professional dancer Ola Jordan, who claimed judges over-mark or under-mark contestants to influence the leaderboard. She told The Sun: 'People are over-marked and under-marked. In my opinion, they know how many votes people scored in the previous weeks and then they try to influence their position on the leaderboard.'
Judge Len Goodman strongly denied the claims, insisting producers never interfered with the judges' scoring during his 11 years on the show. He said on spin-off It Takes Two: 'Eleven years I've done this show and never has a producer come up to us and said, "Mark this person up a bit, we want them to stay in". They never interfere with our integrity.' Dancer Anton Du Beke also dismissed the fixing allegations as 'complete nonsense'.
