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Exclusive: James and Ola Jordan talk disagreeing with judges scores and reveal their winner

The dancers joined this week's HELLO! Insider

Francesca Shillcock
Senior Features Writer
December 12, 2022
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Strictly Come Dancing stars James and Ola Jordan joined this week's HELLO! Insider to talk about the semi-final, revealing why they disagreed with the judges scoring when it came to a couple of the celebrities' performances on Sunday night's show.

MORE: Watch moment Helen Skelton rips figure-hugging dress during live Strictly semi-finals – VIDEO

Chatting about how there were no perfect scores on the night, James began: "I think [that] was fair, although it was a great semi-final and a lot of the dances were good and I really enjoyed the show." 

VIDEO: James and Ola Jordan join HELLO!'s Insider to discuss the Strictly semi-final

James and Ola Jordan talk disagreeing with judges scores and reveal their winner | INSIDER | HELLO!

Changing his mind, the professional then added: "Actually no, I'm going to retract that. I'm going to say there should have been one perfect score and that was Molly." Ola agreed, interjecting: "She definitely should have been top of the leaderboard for me. She was amazing."

James added further: "I'd say she was the only one who deserved a perfect score. When you do two dances, you get half the time to do the dances and I could see that some people struggled with that more than others.

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MORE: Why Strictly's James and Ola Jordan ditched mammoth four-storey mansion

Helen and Gorka in hold during Argentine Tango© Photo: BBC

"I felt Will [Mellor] found it difficult. I thought his Paso Doble was going to be exceptional and I was a bit disappointed. Paso isn't the most difficult dance because it's very stompy and aggressive and I thought he was going to be really good but I was left a bit underwhelmed."

While James and Ola were sure that Molly was undermarked, it seems they thought Will's Couple's Choice routine, which was a street dance number to Happy Mondays, was overmarked.

Hamza and Jowita dance side by side in Charleston © Photo: BBC

On whether Will managed to redeem himself after the Paso Doble disappointed, James joked: "I would say no. I haven't woken up on the wrong side of the bed! But I thought when I was watching I thought 'That's what I would look like if I did street dance', because I know I wouldn't be good.

"I felt it was a bit Dad-dancey. And the fact that it got two tens I thought was baffling."

The results for the semi-finals will air on Monday evening, revealing who has landed a place in the final in the hope of lifting the Glitterball trophy. James and Ola also revealed who they think could be the 2022 champions: "I still it's going to be Hamza [Yassin] because of the likeability, and he's been brilliant," said James. Ola added: "I agree!" 

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