Strictly Come Dancing viewers were left seething after this year’s Blackpool special, claiming one hugely popular star was ‘stitched up’ before he even had a chance to put his dance shoes on.
Reality star Pete Wicks danced a cha-cha to I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred this weekend, which was a stark contrast to his emotional couple’s choice from last Saturday.
After leaving viewers in floods of tears last week, podcaster Pete sparked a very different reaction when he took to the floor in a see-through pink shirt and vibrant vinyl trousers.
Cosplaying as a tram conductor, the Towie alum, 36, began the routine covered up in a duffle coat before exposing his heavily tattooed chest and undeniably leaving little to the imagination in his ultra-tight pants.
It’s safe to say the routine was a spectacle as, at one point, he lay on top of the other professional dancers and later boogied with his back to the audience. He finished the dance wearing a pink fluffy jacket and Elton John-style heart sunglasses.
Unfortunately for Pete and his pro partner Jowita Przystał, the routine didn’t go down too well, as they found themselves at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Head judge Shirley Ballas was visibly hot under the collar, calling the performance ‘very entertaining’ and saying she wouldn’t forget it ‘for as long as [she] lives.’
Through fits of giggles, she praised Pete’s ‘good isolation’ and ‘clean neckline’.
Motsi Mabuse jokingly told Pete she ‘loved it for all the wrong reasons’, and ‘wished the dancing’ had supported the entertainment factor.
Alas, the couple received 27 points, which included a bleak four from Craig Revel Horwood.
Pete told Claudia Winkleman that he had ‘fun’, though, despite viewers raging on his behalf that he had been ‘done so dirty’.
Taking to X afterwards, his fans branded the choreography ‘stupid’ and criticised the ‘silly’ song choice, but heaped praise on Pete and Jowita for ‘doing their best with what they had’.
‘Pete Wicks has been royally stitched up with this week’s song and costume! A bit of a shame to go back to silly after his couple’s choice,’ AmyJoSays tweeted.
Agreeing, quandromache wrote: ‘feel like pete was stitched up with that song because it had NO rhythm to it, how is he meant to dance on the beat’.
‘as much as i can tell pete had fun and pushed himself out of his comfort zone, i feel like he’s being treated as the joke act when he’s actually trying to work on his technique, so all that hard work is being overshadowed by song choices and choreo’, argued blhtrixya.
‘Poor old Pete was so stitched up there. He really did not seem very comfortable doing that at all’, wrote see75.
Alongside the anger, viewers had plenty of words of comfort for the TV personality, who has certainly stepped out of his comfort zone over the past eight weeks.
X user jesshoskingx wrote: ‘seeing Pete’s personality coming out a little bit more each week makes my heart swell, there’s so much more to him than a steely exterior’.
Pete’s ‘cringe’ performance was a real switch-up from last weekend, when. he performed a super tearful contemporary number in memory of his late nan.
Speaking in his VT, Pete told viewers: ‘This is the one dance that I’ve wanted to do since the start of this and this is the tribute to the person that matters to me more than anyone. And that’s my nan.’
He described her as his ‘best friend’ while his mum, Tracy, added that their relationship was ‘really unique’ and they both ‘adored’ each other.
Pete and Jowita danced to an acoustic version of The Best by Tina Turner, which left his bottom lip quivering as he struggled to keep his composure.
Judge Shirley was such a fan of the number that she got out her 10 paddle, telling him: ‘I have to breathe, getting quite emotional. I am a grandma myself, a nana, and just to see you dedicate that to your beautiful nan, your dance was not only filled with beautiful movements but your heart and soul shone through what you did.’
Strictly Come Dancing: The Results airs tomorrow night at 7:20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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