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Strictly fans in uproar after Stacey Dooley “favoured” over fellow injury victim Kate Silverton

Fans accuse show of treating stars differently

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Strictly Come Dancing has been plunged into a new “fix” row after Stacey Dooley was marked far higher than Kate Silverton despite both having a rib injury.

Viewers accused the show of favouring documentary presenter Stacey by focusing on her training accident and trip to hospital.

But no mention was made of Kate’s injury in her VT, despite it being almost identical.

Stacey and Kevin impressed the judges (Credit: BBC)

Read more: Stacey Dooley returns to Strictly Come Dancing training after injury

The newsreader, 48, needed gas-and-air pain relief and was treated by a medic on Friday, after she “stripped” her muscle from the bone.

The panel gave Kate just 23 points, with head judge Shirley Ballas criticising her Agentine Tango as “laboured” and Craig Revel Horwood blasting the performance, with professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec, as “stuck in the mud”.

Nines across the board for Stacey (Credit: BBC)

Read more: Strictly’s Kate Silverton films herself on laughing gas after suffering rib injury

By contrast, they lavished praise on 31-year-old Stacey, who performed a street/commercial dance to Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind as their Couple’s Choice.

She received nines across the board for a total of 36, placing her third on the leaderboard, while Kate ended up second from bottom.

Kate’s Argentine tango (Credit: BBC)

Viewers took to social media to cry foul.

One tweeted: “Not a mention of Kate’s injury until after the dance!! Full VT of Stacey’s! Wonder who the favourite is.”

Another wrote: “Shockingly biased towards Stacy. Not a mention of Kate’s injury til after she’d danced.”

A third added: “Not sure about this..Kate has had to have injections because of a detached muscle from her ribs, is in constant pain and it’s only mentioned briefly in passing, yet Stacey’s injury is heavily featured in her VT? Hoping that Audience manipulation isn’t at play here?”

Kate was marked down (Credit: BBC)

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* Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 7.50pm on BBC1.

Do you think Stacey was favoured over Kate? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor