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Alesha Dixon leads Strictly outrage as Aston Merrygold is eliminated - who is the new favourite to win?

Last night’s Strictly Come Dancing result show saw fan favourite Aston Merrygold get booted from the competition in a shock elimination that outraged fans.

The JLS star found himself in the dance-off alongside The Saturdays’ star Mollie King, with Craig Revel Horwood and head judge Shirley Ballas opting to send Aston and his professional dance partner, Janette Manrara, home.

Alesha is not amused. Copyright: [Rex/ BBC]
Alesha is not amused. Copyright: [Rex/ BBC]

Angry viewers flocked to social media to slam the decision, with celebrities leading the outrage.

Former Strictly judge, Alesha Dixon, was among the first to vent her frustration, with the Britain’s Got Talent judge slamming Craig’s decision to give Aston and Janette’s Viennese Waltz a four during Saturday night’s live show.

Alesha wrote: “Craig giving Aston a 4 basically put the nail in the coffin! Ridiculous!

Craig gave Aston and Janette’s dance a 4. Copyright: [BBC]
Craig gave Aston and Janette’s dance a 4. Copyright: [BBC]

“Can’t believe one of the best dancers has left so soon!!! #Strictly”.

The judges’ votes are combined with the public vote in order to determine the lowest-rated two celebrities, with Craig’s low score seeing Aston and Janette shoot to the bottom of the leaderboard at the weekend.

Former professional Strictly dancer, James Jordan, agreed with Alesha, and the outspoken star was also among the celebs to criticise last night’s result.

He tweeted: “DISGUSTING!!! CRAIG has officially ruined Strictly 2017 by giving Aston a 4 in his dance.

“Dance off result correct but he shouldn’t be in it.

James Jordan is furious with the result. Copyright: [Rex]
James Jordan is furious with the result. Copyright: [Rex]

“WHATEVER they say about the public not voting for him [is s***] it was the JUDGES that put him there.

CRAIG CANNOT JUSTIFY HIS 4. F A C T !

“DISGUSTING RESULT. [sic]”

Strictly Come Dancing’s 2010 winner, Harry Judd, also shared his disapproval, uploading a video to Instagram where he discussed the result, once again blasting Craig:

#strictly shocker #spoiler

A post shared by H A R R Y J U D D (@harryjudd) on Nov 5, 2017 at 12:55pm PST

And across the board, fans were fuming:

Despite the outrage in his favour, Aston was gracious in his elimination, telling host Tess Daly: “Honestly, every second of this, I’ve had friends who have done the show before and they’ve gone ‘you’re going to have the most amount of fun from start to finish whatever it is’ and honestly they weren’t lying!

“Everything, from this lady to every single person in here, these four judges, yourself, Claudia, all you amazing lot up there that I get to see and spend so much time with.

Aston was gracious in his exit interview. Copyright: [BBC]
Aston was gracious in his exit interview. Copyright: [BBC]

“I’ve made some amazing friends and honestly I’ve had the best time, it’s been amazing.”

Following Aston’s departure, bookies have Debbie McGee as the favourite to win the show with odds of 7/4, and X Factor winner Alexandra Burke is close behind at 11/4.

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