Strictly fans accuse Shirley Ballas of being 'biased' as she sparks favouritism row after making a subtle dig at BBC show's pro dancers

Strictly's Shirley Ballas has sparked a favouritism row as she made a subtle dig at pro dancer during Saturday night's live show.

Week two of Strictly saw the celebrities take on the Movie Week theme, with the stars performing numbers from films including The Devil Wears Prada, Mary Poppins and Zootropolis.

During the night, Melanie Walters and pro dancer Aljaz delivered a Waltz to The Sound of Music's 'Edelweiss', but they only managed to score 15 from the judges.

Despite ending up at the bottom of the leaderboard, Shirley had some words of praise for the Strictly pro.

However, she delivered some harsh truths for Melanie, saying that she 'had quite a few mistakes' and that her posture wasn't great in the dance.

Her criticisms were met with a scoff from fellow judge Anton Du Beke, prompting Shirley to reply: 'Hold on a minute, I'm trying to help her because she's going to have lots of other ballroom dances and she's dancing with the best ballroom dancer.'

While Aljaz smiled at her comment, it appeared to be a subtle dig at the other pros who were looking down from the balcony.

Viewers clocked the comment and have taken to X to share their thoughts, penning: 'The male dancer bias from Shirley never goes away does it,'

'Shirley hyping her and the bbcs favourites once more, another year same bullsh*t,'

'It seems Shirley is jealous of beautiful young lady’s and loves the younger men.. weird how her views are completely different there,'

'Yet another year of Shirley underscoring the women and overscoring the men,'

'Shirley is so biased with the men on this show ffs,'

'Shirley praising the male pros Carlos and Alijaz but never the female pros. Weird.'

Elsewhere in the show, fans have spotted a 'strange' tension between Motsi Mabuse and Josh Widdicombe.

New hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh were no doubt feeling the pressure as they opened the show for Movie Week, after the first live show's presenting format was panned by viewers – with Josh branded a 'spare part'.

As viewers continue to adjust to the new dynamic, fans have started to notice a simmering tension between Motsi and Josh on the dancefloor.

Fans pointed out on X that Motsi appears to have 'had enough of the comedian interrupting her with his jokes'. 

Viewers discussed: 'Motsi just can’t hide her contempt for Josh #Strictly,' 'Motsi is just like me fr. She’s over Josh already too #strictly,'

'I like Josh and he can be funny, but I feel like his jokes would be much more suited upstairs, when interacting with the celebrities, rather than the judges #Strictly,'

'There's a really strange overall vibe tonight. Can't put my finger on it,' 'Motsi really doesn't like Josh, does she?'

'I’m sensing a bit of tension from Motsi when Josh talks to her #Strictly.'

Last week, Josh was on the receiving end of a very sassy comment from Motsi as she was trying to give her expert feedback to the couples.

After Craig Revel Horwood gave his rather cutting feedback, Motsi turned to him to say that she actually agreed with what he was saying for once, which led to Craig quipping: 'Great - we can move on to Shirley [Ballas] then!'

Motsi burst out laughing before then replying: 'Well I have to do my job too!'

Josh then jokingly shouted: 'Shirley!' as if to skip over Motsi's feedback like Craig had suggested.

Motsi then cheekily remarked to Josh: 'Well are we going to be friends or enemies, you choose now!' as the audience and Josh laughed it off. 

Reacting to the moment on X, one viewer said: 'Josh feared for his P45 in Week 1. Motsi ate him up.' 

Despite some viewers suggesting some tension between the pair, away from the dancefloor it appears Motsi is backing Josh all the way.

Motsi urged fans to appreciate the show's 'imperfectly human' new presenting line-up earlier this week and said AI could replace them one day.

Taking to Threads, she said: 'While people type away, tearing apart real human beings on television, real emotions!!!!!!!

'AI is getting better at replacing them. One day we might not even know the difference. 

'And maybe then we'll miss the days when television was still beautifully, imperfectly human.'

The scores from week one were added to their week two scores, giving them a combined overall total.  

Australian singer Delta Goodrem and her partner Kai Widdrington topped the leaderboard this week with their combined score of 59 points.