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Strictly star Janette Manrara on dealing with negative judges’ comments - EXCLUSIVE

Join our Strictly Insider as we chat Movie Week with Janette Manrara!

TV & Film Editor
October 10, 2022

It Takes Two star and former Strictly pro Janette Manrara joined HELLO!’s Strictly Insider to chat all things Movie Week - particularly how to react to some of the judges’ trickier comments over the course of the episode. 

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During Week three of the famous competition, some Twitter fans were quick to discuss what they felt were unfair comments from judges and noticed that Nikita Kuzmin defended his celeb partner Ellie Simmonds’ from Shirley Ballas’ critique following their routine. 

WATCH: Join our Strictly Insider with Janette Manrara!

Janette said from the experience of being there and receiving disheartening comments herself: "Dance is subjective. It's an art form, so there's no right or wrong. It's literally just opinion. And at least for me, when I was competing on the show, I obviously took it on board and listened to what they had to say, good or bad - but when it was something where I thought, 'Well, I don't know if I would agree with that,' I just wouldn’t take it personally because it's not at the end of the day." 

Janette opened up about Movie Week

She continued: "I like yellow and somebody else might like blue. It's a matter of taste. Technically, Shirley does know exactly what she's talking about when it comes to the technique and things like that. But, you know, only the pros know how hard the celebrities work in the week." 

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Janette chatted all things Strictly over Movie Week

Speaking about perfecting the routine with your partner, Janette added: "As a pro, you have to pick your battles. You can't throw everything in the kitchen sink into that dance because not every celeb can pick everything up all the way through. So you have to choose, 'Okay well, if she's struggling a little bit with her feet, let's work a little bit more on the frame,' or the other way around, or she's got a really beautiful frame so let's focus now on her feet.

"You have to pick and choose what's going to be best and showcase your celebrity in the best possible light." 

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