Strictly Come Dancing in 'race row' as fans fume over two black contestants in bottom two

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing fans have been left furious after Fleur East and Richie Anderson were in the dance-off this week - sparking accusations of racism among the public voting system.

Former X Factor star Fleur, 34, danced the American Smooth with Vito Coppola to The Little Mermaid's Part Of Your World. Meanwhile, Richie and his dance partner Giovanni Pernice performed a Samba to Lion King's Hakuna Matata, writes the Mirror.

Before the performance Fleur, who portrayed Ariel in the dance, discussed the importance of representation ahead of the 2023 release of live action version of the Disney film, where Halle Bailey plays the lead character.She said: "I’m going to be Ariel, Vito is Prince Eric and what makes it even more exciting is that in May next year the new remake of The Little Mermaid is coming out."The trailer for the film went viral recently because Ariel is played by Halle Bailey who is a Black girl, so for the first time Ariel is going to be played by a woman of colour. "This representation is huge and you can see that from the video compilation that went viral of all these little girls watching the trailer and saying, ‘Mummy, Ariel looks like me.’ It just shows why this representation is so important and weirdly I’m going to play Ariel before Halle gets to play her," she added to The Independent.Fleur put on a dazzling performance with Vito, 30, and received a total on 29 points from judges – landing her in the middle of the leaderboard.Meanwhile, 34-year-old Richie and Giovanni, 32, who dressed as Timon and Pumbaa for their performance, were given 27 points from the impressed judges.Viewers were left in shock as it was revealed Fleur and Richie had landed in the bottom two after the public vote.