STRICTLY’S head judge Shirley Ballas has been accused of sexism after appearing to “favour” male celebrities.
Fans went into meltdown after Sunday night’s show after Shirley claimed she’d have saved Richie Anderson, 34, over Fleur East, also 34, in the dance-off.
Shirley Ballas suffered abuse online after this week’s Strictly
Fleur has been a firm favourite to win the series, while Richie performed a Samba dressed as a meerkat.
Shirley – who has been tough with her critique of Fleur – was viciously trolled by viewers who called for her to be sacked.
They claimed she was unable to “celebrate the young, female celebrities” and “felt threatened by” and was “overly critical” of attractive women dancers.
Behaviourist expert Darren Stanton insists Shirley’s body language proves she gets more animated and flirtatious when critiquing the male contestants.
Speaking to The Celeb Report on behalf of Slingo, Darren Stanton reveals: “When judging this year’s contestants, Shirley Ballas displays differences within her verbal delivery and her non-verbal behaviour depending on which star she is interacting with.
“Her body language doesn’t remain consistent throughout the judging process.
“When she’s dealing with the male contestants, Shirley does seem to have a notable shift in emotion.
“You’ll notice she often stands up to deliver her feedback, seems more animated, touches her hair more often and her pupils dilate.
“Her head will often tilt to one side and she will hold prolonged eye contact.
“On the whole, her face appears more engaged and her demeanour becomes slightly flirtatious.
“She portrays many open palm gestures, a sign of affection, and adopts a schoolgirl like persona, becoming giggly and excitable.
“Other tell-tale signs of when Shirley tends to show a bias towards a certain contestant are the pitch of her voice and the language she uses when delivering her feedback.
“She is generally a lot more animated with her voice and her pitch will rise when she is showing bias.
“Whereas, Shirley tends to use harsher language to get her point across with those she favours less.”
Fleur East with her partner Vito
