Dianne Buswell has jumped to the defence of Shirley Ballas, after the Strictly head judge fell victim to online abuse following her decision to boot Dianne off the show over the weekend. One fan tweeted the Aussie pro dancer and her boyfriend Joe Sugg, telling them: "Please sort your fans out @dbuzz6589 & @Joe_Sugg. I get why people are upset & I don't think it was @dev_101's time to go. But sending vile abusive tweets & death threats to @ShirleyBallas is totally out of order. Imagine if it was a member of your family on the receiving end."
Dianne, 30, was quick to respond and told her followers: "Guys this is terrible you cannot be bullying like this. It's awful and really upsets me to hear this. It's simply not ok and should never happen!"
© Photo: TwitterDianne called for an end to online bullying
On Sunday, Shirley and her three fellow judges Motsi Mabuse, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood all opted to save Aljaz Skorjanec and Viscountess Emma Weymouth in the dance-off, leaving Dianne and her celebrity dance partner Dev Griffin to exit the show. The decision came as a massive shock to fans, with some even claiming that the phone line for Dev and Dianne was down when they tried to vote.
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Dianne was so upset after the results show that she was unable to appear on the Strictly podcast, which is hosted by her boyfriend Joe and the show's producer Kim Winston. However, she did give an interview on spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday night. Looking visibly upset, Dianne said: "I was also in a lot of shock, I didn't think Dev would be in the bottom two for a while, if not at all. I thought he did a brilliant job on Saturday night and even better in the dance-off so I was so upset."
© Photo: BBCShe and Dev Griffin were voted off the show over the weekend
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She added: "I feel like I just promised Dev that we were going to be fine, then we weren't. Then we picked ourselves up and thought we would be safe if we just went out there. And we got great comments from the judges and just wanted Dev to be a bit more cheeky in the Cha, Cha, and I feel he did."
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