Ex Strictly star Brendan Cole has hit out at Dr Punam Krishan, who he considers the ‘worst dancer’ remaining on Strictly Come Dancing.
Punam left the judges fighting back tears during a dazzling Week 3 performance, which saw her perform the first ever Bollywood routine in the show’s history. The celebrity doctor was praised by the judges for her “absolutely incredible” dance and was ranked in joint second place with 33 points.
But just one week later, Punam came crashing to the bottom of the scoreboard with just 20 points after her jive failed to impress the judges and was branded “sloppy” by Craig Revel Horwood.
Both Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse pointed out “a lot of mistakes” in the doctor’s routine, and suggested that Punam may have crumbled under the pressure of performing as well as the previous week.
Now, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole has weighed in on the remaining 12 celebrities in the competition, and didn’t hold back on Punam’s dramatic fall from grace.
Brendan, 48, who is currently working with Sky Vegas, told The Mirror: “Chris McCausland is probably one of the least able technical dancers out there but a lot of that is due to not being able to see what exactly has to happen within the move. So, on that basis, he should probably be somebody near the bottom two, but his flair and his ability to do everything else will easily keep him out of the bottom two.
“Even if he wasn’t in the bottom two, the judges probably wouldn’t send him home because what he’s doing is actually quite brilliant. It was a very entertaining dance, Dianne Buswell has been getting the choreography exactly right.
“Punam Krishan is definitely the worst dancer now that Nick Knowles has gone. Nick’s number was pretty bad, but it’s a shame because I actually liked what he did.”
Brendan even went on to criticise the innovative dance routine performed by Love Island star Tasha Ghouri. He complained: “I didn’t like Tasha having a selfie stick on the floor, for me, that doesn’t have a place, but they’re trying to be different and new.”
The professional’s comments follow a punishing live show on Saturday, which saw Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu compete against Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk in the dance-off. Shayne and Nancy had earned a spot in the middle of the leaderboard with their Cha Cha, so it was no surprise that the judges unanimously voted for them to stay in the competition.
Nick accepted the judges’ verdict, responding: “I’ve really been surprised by how much I’ve loved doing it.”
He added: “Two things happen: one, is how much you care each week, and the other is how much you don’t want to let down your partner. The only reason I could do this this evening was because of Luba’s changes.”
Nick’s partner Luba praised his “determination” as she held back tears and thanked him for his dedication to dancing despite his injury. In response, Nick acknowledged all the staff who had supported him through his injury, before wishing luck to his fellow competitors.
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