BBC Strictly Come Dancing in 'fix' row over Angela Rippon's Paso Doble

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing returned on Saturday night, with the competition among the celebs heating up as we reached the halfway stage in the show.

All eight remaining couples are gunning to make Blackpool next week.Angela Rippon, the oldest contestant this year, admitted that "things are getting a lot tougher" as she prepared to take to the iconic BBC ballroom to perform her Paso Doble to Hung Up by Madonna.Many fans were speculating how she would get on by showing a "different side" to her character with the bold dance.

Having mastered the elegance of ballroom routines, people were eager to see how she would keep up with faster-paced styles.Angela and her partner Kai Widdrington found themselves in the bottom two last week against Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk, with fans left furious that they were saved by the judges and Waterloo Road star Adam sent packing.Tonight, the 79-year-old sported a very daring and different look to previous weeks, as she had a 'gothic' makeover from the wardrobe team with spiked locks tied up in black ribbon, while wearing a leather get-up.

Angela and Kai's performance saw the judges give her scores of eight across the board, earning her a total of 32 out of 40 putting them joint on the leaderboard with Bobby Brazier and his partner Katya Jones.Her leg extension was back as Craig pointed out that her timing was "wonderful" and Motsi added her performance was "daring" and had "courage", suggesting that she could be on her way to Blackpool.Head judge Shirley also agreed and said she came back from the dance-off with a "sting in her tail" and said the slip up she had on the floor "didn't matter." But some fans were unimpressed with the dance and the judges' comments. Join the Daily Record's