Alesha Dixon has spoken out in support of Alexandra Burke, whose displays of emotion on Strictly have been branded 'fake' by some viewers. Alesha is certainly well placed to comment; she won the BBC dancing show in 2007 and went on to become a judge in the seventh series, replacing Arlene Phillips. Speaking to the Mirror, the 39-year-old said it was easy to become overwhelmed with emotions during the competition. "It's a roller-coaster of emotions – highs and lows, ups and downs – and when you come out the other end you're so proud that you went through it," Alesha said. "The Strictly bubble is real. It can completely take over your life." She continued: "I hope she's ok because she's such an accomplished performer – such a fantastic dancer. She will always be successful because she's such a determined performer – the passion is written all over her face. You can see it."
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Alesah Dixon has come to the defence of Strictly's Alexandra Burke
Despite routinely scoring high marks from the judging panel, Alexandra has found herself voted into the bottom two by the public two weeks in a row – and she fears she won't make it through to the Strictly final after receiving cruel messages on social media. In a new interview with Radio Times this week, the 29-year-old said: "Twitter seems to have given people permission to be incredibly hurtful. They don't seem to realise that I have feelings and get upset.
"The saddest thing is that I started the show completely myself – my joy and my tears were 100 per cent genuine, however much people said they were fake. But now I'm so self-conscious, I try not to react in case people say, 'Oh look, here are the fake tears again.'"
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Alexandra has found herself voted into the bottom two in as many weeks
On Monday, Alexandra took to Twitter to respond to reports she had had a "meltdown" backstage after finding herself in the bottom two again. A source told The Sun: "Alexandra was sobbing and shaking in the green room after the dance-off. She couldn't understand why the public had voted her into the bottom two for the second week in a row despite getting great scores. She had to be reassured by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, she seemed inconsolable."
In response, Alexandra tweeted: "Because it's really hard to read lies. I have to say something... after the show on the weekend I actually WASN'T in the green room. I was in the physio room treating an injury and then went home. NO meltdown... just happy that we made it through another week xx."
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