Strictly Come Dancing viewers claim star ‘being set up to fail’

Strictly Come Dancing viewers have claimed one of the stars of this season is being ‘set up to fail’.

Last week the first live show aired, with the 15 celebrities and their professional dance partners hitting the dancefloor.

One of them was EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, who performed a Viennese waltz with Michelle Tsiakkas.

The pair received a score of 23 out of 40 from the judges, which came after some claimed the actor had an unfair advantage.

Last year the 30-year-old competed on the Strictly Christmas Special, lifting the glitterball trophy with Nancy Xu after their quickstep earned them a perfect score.

Although there was some who said his experience going into this season was ‘unfair’, others have now said he might be facing some additional hurdles.

This weekend Jamie and Michelle have been tasked with performing a rumba to the song Ain’t No Sunshine, with the routine revealed in a video posted on the show’s official social media pages.

However, some think the dance is too ambitious this early in the competition.

Taking to Reddit, one wrote: ‘Jamie and Rumba Week 2 are they setting him up for a failure they do have a great song though.’

Another commented: ‘Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I feel like they’re preparing him for an underdog storyline.

‘Because people are criticising him for just winning the Xmas special, they can start him off with more challenging dances/judges criticisms that mean he can then have more of a journey.

‘Like we all know he’s a good dancer and that’s fresh in our minds, so they’re easing us in.’

Another added: ‘I know they like to have variety in the dances but there are some styles that shouldn’t be danced until the latter half of the season.

‘Being given a rumba in week 2 is very unfair.

‘Not only is it technically challenging but expecting the [celeb] to feel comfortable enough to execute a great rumba with their partner is unrealistic.’

However, someone else said they was ‘sure he would be fine’ due to his previous ‘dance training’.

Others said the dance was ‘too much to live up to’ and was ‘way too early’ to be given to someone.

‘BAN THE SAMBA AND RUMBA WEEK ONE! THEY ARE TOO DIFFICULT,’ user Katy begged on X.

During last weekend’s live show, Jamie was jokingly labelled a ‘cheat’ by fellow contestant Wynne Evans.

The rest of the line-up gasped while Claudia Winkleman covered her mouth in shock, comedian Chris McCausland quipping: ‘This man’s a hero!’

But brushing off the brutal dig, Jamie said he wanted to sign up for the full series because he ‘had such a fantastic experience’ and ‘it was a bit of a no-brainer’.