STRICTLY fans believe show bosses are engineering one star to get the boot this weekend.
Die-hard followers of the hit BBC show reckon Paul Merson and his dance partner Karen Hauer have been giving the ‘dance of death’ this week, believing producers are tactically ‘edging him out’.
Paul’s previous dances have included music to football anthem Vindaloo, a dance around a fake barbecue to Pitball’s Fireball and the duo riding on giant plastic horses.
Now the ex-footballer and his pro partner have suffered another blow after it was confirmed they will be dancing a Samba to the disco track Car Wash this weekend.
Fans of the football star flocked to Reddit on hearing the news, offering their support.
One said: “Poor Paul – clearly they don’t want to give him a shot by giving him the Dance of Death (Samba).”
Another said: “They want a Pete & Paul dance-off for sure – cant wait for Shayne’s tho!”
Others said it felt as though show producers were scheduling dances to particular duos in a bid to lessen their chances.
One fan of the football star said: “It does seem like they’re giving some of the celebrities certain dances depending on how far they want them to get.”
“Like giving Paul a Samba this week, that seems to be their way of trying to get him out.”
And it’s not just fans who are fuming.
Back in October the former England player lashed out at show bosses for giving him multiple ‘joke dances.’
The 56-year-old made a series of subtle digs about his routines when discussing his Strictly journey so far.
When asked ‘what it meant to him’ to achieve his highest score yet with a ballroom quickstep the Arsenal legend said: “It was amazing just to get a nice dance.”
“Obviously a barbecue and Vindaloo and Football’s Coming Home and looking like someone who works on a ship… yeah, it was nice to dance.”
“I thought Karen deserved that as well, to be fair to her.”
In a second swipe, the dad-of-three continued: “I felt more comfortable.”
“When I first took up the chance to come on the show, this was what I thought it would be roughly.”
“It was nice to get one of those dances in.”
“Before, I just thought of Fred Astaire and I couldn’t see him dancing to Vindaloo.”
The former England player has surprised and delighted many of his fans throughout the show and while he’s remained bottom of the leaderboard, has managed to dodge the dance-offs so far.
But this week even bookies have slashed the odds on him staying.
Betway spokesperson Chad Yeomans said: “Paul and Karen impressed the judges last week with their best score yet, but they’re dancing the notoriously tricky Samba this weekend to the 1976 hit Car Wash.”
“Many punters believe this could be a step too far, making Paul the even-money favourite to bow out.”
“Next in the elimination betting this week come Punam Krishan at 3/1 and Pete Wicks at 15/2.”
Strictly Come Dancing Week 5 songs and dances
Here’s this weekend’s line up…
- Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe – Couple’s Choice to Skeleton Move by KG, Zanda Zakuza
- Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez – Viennese Waltz to She’s Always A Woman To Me by Billy Joel
- Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin – Quickstep to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
- Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola – Samba to Do It Do It Again by Rafaella Carrà
- Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec – Tango to Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
- Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell – Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers
- Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas – Paso Doble to Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona
- JB Gill and Amy Dowden Jive to Hey Ya! by Outkast
- Paul Merson and Karen Hauer Samba to Car Wash by Rose Royce
- Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał – Rumba to Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis
- Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu – American Smooth to Get Here by Sam Smith
- Wynne Evans and Katya Jones – Quickstep to Mr Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra
