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Will Mellor was on the receiving end of some harsh comments from head judge Shirley Ballas during tonight\u2019s Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> semi-final, following his Paso Doble to Uccen (DWTS Remix) by Taalbi brothers and DWTS.<\/p>\n Mellor and professional partner Nancy Xu had finished top of the Strictly leaderboard<\/a> on each of the past two weeks, but his first dance of the semi-final was received less positively, with Ballas singling him out for some especially tough criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were quite a few things missing for me in this dance,\u201d she said. \u201cYou had the arrogance part, you came out and you delivered a good strong message I\u2019m going to give you that\u2026 but Paso Doble is very much built \u2013 and has been \u2013 on an oval shape. It collapsed every time you picked her up, the arms were too straight when they were out to the side.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are basic fundamentals from the very very beginning that were very much missing for me, and when you choose to use a cape at the beginning you have to extend it, it can\u2019t feel like it\u2019s a little scarf around your neck, it is an extension that reaches and goes. So I didn\u2019t get a good start from the beginning.\u201d<\/p> She concluded: \u201cI do believe you give 100% of your heart \u2013 I love that. But this is the semi-final and those are the things that I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, she awarded him a 7, which combined with the scores from the other judges gave him a total of 32 \u2013 the lowest of the first round of dances in the semi-final.<\/p>\n And Mellor was clearly disappointed with the comments, telling Claudia Winkleman that he felt \u201crubbish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI worked hard and just I\u2019ve let her [Nancy] down a little bit there,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause she taught me right and I\u2019ve just\u2026forgotten a few fundamentals.\u201d<\/p>\n Viewers at home appeared to be in agreement with Shirley, with one fan on Twitter describing it as \u201cso messy\u201d and adding that \u201cThat cape bit at the start looked like he was stuck in a shirt trying to get it off.\u201d<\/p>\n That cape bit at the start looked like he was stuck in a shirt trying to get it off #strictly<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/tOkLfMLgLh<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Rhia (@reieesc) December 11, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>