Shayne Ward, who faced some criticism after his first dance on Strictly Come Dancing, received an invaluable set of tips from judge Anton du Beke during his latest performance.
After Shayne and Nancy Xu performed a steamy tango to Teddy Swims’ track The Door, Anton didn’t mince his words: “I want you to listen to this, I want you to concentrate. I want you to evolve yourself into the dance, it’s about the dance.”
Anton continued, stressing the importance of focusing on the craft: “I, at the moment, don’t want to know about you, at the moment. I will do later, right now I want you to be in the dance and when you do that, you get this because it’s intense, it’s together, you’re in beautiful harmony.”
He then tied the elements of music and performance together: “The music is part of the whole production as well and it’s a complete bit. I want you to focus on that because moving forward, you can be a real powerhouse in this competition.”
Craig Revel Horwood, usually the strictest judge, agreed and hinted at Shayne’s potential, stating: “I completely agree with Anton, you are the one to watch.”
After taking advice to heart, Shayne boosted his score to 31, showing notable improvement from his earlier performance. Despite this, social media sentiment had previously been challenging, with viewers branding him “overconfident” and “cocky”, reports the Express.
A tweet reflected this view saying: “The overconfidence is actually something I’m not enjoying about Shayne right now.”
Yet another online commenter was surprised at Shayne’s approach, posting skeptically: “Shayne’s not learned that no-one takes to the hyper-confident competitive ones, has he?”
Meanwhile, another viewer remarked: “Find someone that loves you as much as Shayne Ward loves himself.”
Shayne Ward hit back at the critique on his Instagram, saying: “Strictly is amazing and I love being part of it. But through my smile on TV I’m as nervous as the next person.”
He added: “Not cocky or overconfident… I’m nervous! I just gotta work hard and listen to my wonderful teacher [Nancy]. All I can do is my best!”
Strictly Come Dancing’s Week 2 Results airs tonight at 7:15pm on BBC One.