Strictly Come Dancing spin-off It Takes Two saw Paul Merson and dance partner Karen Hauer reflect on their recent performance of the quick-step.
The former footballer phoned into the show via video link where he admitted he was pleased to have finally got some real dancing under his belt.
With Paul’s acknowledgement of the unserious choreography he has done in previous weeks, fans were quick to chime in and call for the show to stop “embarrassing” the star.
Strictly fans fume over treatment of Paul Merson
Discussing his performance over the weekend, Paul admitted: “When I first took up the chance to come on the show, this is what I thought it would be, roughly.”
He added: “It was nice to get one of those dances in.”
Host of the show, Janette replied: “You feel like you’ve got the whole Strictly experience with this dance under your belt now.”
To which Paul replied: “Yeah, but now it’s back to reality again this week,” referring to his upcoming performance of the Samba to Car Wash by Rose Royce.
On social media, It Takes Two viewers agreed with Paul’s statement, with one writing: “He’s quite right….They need to stop all these stupid dances they give to ex sports people. It’s embarrassing and never works properly. Paul’s dance was far better with the correct music and outfit.”
Viewers slam Paul Merson’s Strictly choreography
Another added: “The whole vibe of this interview has been ‘ooh yeah it’s great doing proper ballroom’. I’m so cross they’re now making Paul do the Samba.”
A third remarked: “I’m pleased that Paul is finally being taken seriously with a traditional song and good choreo. His frame is also really improving. I wish he was continuing in ballroom this week just so we could see even more improvement there.”
“‘After Vindaloo… it was nice to dance!’ @PaulMerse on his splendid quickstep. But it is Car Wash and samba on Saturday. An odd choice…,” wrote another.
“It makes me annoyed to see Paul & Karen talking about how much he loved being Fred Astaire during the quickstep and that’s what he always expected #Strictly to be, not the silly stuff. And then this week they have a samba to Car Wash, back to being the joke again,” [sic] fumed another.
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