James Jordan claims Steph's Packed Lunch 'stitched him up' over Ellie Simmonds leg tweet

express.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan praised Ellie Simmonds and Nikita Kuzmin's Cha Cha Cha routine, but suggested she could do with "consciously" straightening her leg to improve her performance.

His comment sparked backlash with many suggesting she may not be able to do so due to her dwarfism.Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the 44-year-old said his tweet about Ellie wasn't written in a malicious way as he praised the Strictly hopeful for her efforts and branded the 27-year-old "an inspiration".The dancer was asked about his tweet last month on Steph McGovern's show, Steph's Packed Lunch, which he claims "stitched him up" in a bid to boost their ratings.James appeared via video link as a guest on the show with his wife Ola Jordan and their four-year-old daughter Ella.During the chat, host Steph McGovern asked how he was feeling about his tweet as she pointed out it had caused backlash.Coleen Nolan's pop star son 'living off Universal Credit'The dancer, taken aback by the question, defended his words, telling the Channel 4 host he is aware she can't have a straight leg, but could consciously think about its positioning.Reflecting on the moment, he said: "They tried to stitch me up there by trying to make something out of something that wasn't even there."I don't even know where it came from, maybe the producer realised they weren't getting any headlines and they needed to get a headline from James Jordan to make their show a bit more interesting, possibly."I don't know what it was, maybe they're not getting enough ratings, so they used me to get more ratings."They tried to stitch me up by saying I said something negative about Ellie [Simmonds] which I never did."They said, 'Oh the backlash,' and even.