OLA Jordan has opened her heart about her decision to quit Strictly — and claimed the show’s judges manipulate the leader board to keep acts in the contest.
We revealed last weekend that the dancer was walking out on the BBC favourite after ten hugely successful years, ending her time as Strictly’s longest-serving female.
Speaking for the first time of her reasons for leaving, Ola told The Sun she was forced out after being marginalised by producers.
In a searing interview in which she branded Craig Revel Horwood “childish and pathetic”, she claimed judges regularly over-mark couples to help keep them in the competition.
Ola, 33, said: “Some of the marking is way off. People are over-marked and under-marked.
“As a dancer, you can’t cheat me. I know who has been over-marked and who has been under-marked.”
The fate of contestants is decided by a combination of the judges’ marks and a public vote.
Ola believes the panel under or over-mark people to change their position on the leader board.
Speaking before Strictly’s live Blackpool extravaganza, which airs tonight, she added: “In my opinion they know how many votes people scored in the previous weeks and then they try to influence their position on the leader board. Why else would they over-mark someone?
“All the pros talk about the marking. We ask each other, ‘What is all that about? Why are they trying to over-mark that person?’.
“Someone could do a dance and mess it up quite badly. Now I know that was a bad dance and there’s no way it’s an eight, but the judge says, ‘That’s amazing’ and gives them an eight or a nine and we go, ‘What the hell’s going on?’.
“If the show is not fair, it takes the fun out of it. The leader board is very important. If someone is in the wrong place it puts them in massive trouble. People don’t appreciate how important it is. It is not just the votes.”
Last night the BBC dismissed Ola’s “fix” accusations as “nonsense”.
A spokesman said: “Each judge scores each dance independently, based on its merits and on their expert opinion.”
Polish-born Ola, who won the show with TV presenter Chris Hollins in 2009, insisted: “I don’t want this to come across like I’m bitter.
“I love Strictly, I’ve had an amazing time and I owe it so much. But the show isn’t the same as it was and it is time for me to walk away.
“A lot of the pro dancers will say things between them, but they would never say it openly. No one is saying it to production. They are scared that they will lose their jobs.”
Ola also claimed certain couples get preferential treatment when it comes to routines and song choices.
And she said producers have other ways of influencing the course of the competition — and the progression of certain pairs.
She explained: “Previously the producers would never know how good the celebrities were.
“Now they watch training for the opening group dance so they can see who’s good and who’s not and how people learn.
“It’s unfair because it means they can decide which professionals will stay in the competition longer.
“Jay McGuiness is clearly the best dancer so they gave him Aliona Vilani, who went out in the first week for the last two years.
“If they didn’t care which pros went far, why don’t they do it the old way and base it on height and personality? Now they base it on ability.”
She added: “Why do they need to know how good they are? It allows them to control it.” Ola also believes the show is not as much fun as it used to be due to the number of celebrities now who have previous dancing experience.
And she thinks that while viewers “love the good dancers”, it also means the chances of someone like Chris, who had no dancing background, winning again are tiny.
She said: “All the people left now, apart from Jamelia, have had dance training. In years gone by, no one had any training. Chris hadn’t had any. This year, the standard is so high, but it’s so predictable. That takes the fun out of it and it takes my motivation away.
“Why should I spend eight hours in the training room with my celebrity when I know who’s going to go through?.”
Ola also tore into Aussie judge Craig, 50, who claimed her 2016 calendar was far too raunchy for a star of a family show. Her husband James Jordan, 37, who left Strictly in 2013, has already hit back at him in a high-profile rant.
Ola, who claimed Craig “does nothing but get in the way” as creative director on the Strictly live tour, blasted: “I think Craig is childish and pathetic making comments about my calendar.
“Maybe he needed some press. I wouldn’t slag his book off. He should be supporting dancers, but he isn’t because we tell it how it is.”
Relations between Ola and the BBC started to deteriorate when they gave her outspoken husband the boot.
Bosses went mad when during his last series Ola tried to recruit him to help her train her partner, actor Ashley Taylor Dawson.
Then she clashed with them again when she wanted to compete on Channel 4 show The Jump.
This year she was paired with Olympian Iwan Thomas but they crashed out in the first round. She said: “He was such a nice guy, but not the best dancer — bless him.”
Tellingly, last weekend Ola was left out of the opening group dance and the Children in Need special — which is normally given to the dancers who go out in the early rounds.
She will appear in the rest of this year’s show when needed, but has been left out of the tour and the Christmas special and will not return next year.
She said: “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. It’s a huge thing as Strictly has been such a massive part of my life for so long and I’ve made so many great friends, but it’s time to go.
“I don’t want to be part of the show if I’m just making up the numbers. I’ve been offered loads of incredible opportunities, including a tour with Arlene Phillips.
“I’m really excited about what the future holds.”