BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks issues five-word statement after judges' low scores

Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks has promised fans he'll "get better" and praised his partner Jowita after his low score on Saturday night's live show.

The TOWIE star, 35, joined his partner Jowita Przystał, 30, on the dancefloor for the first time and was given the Spanish inspired Paso Doble dance, hoping to wow the judges. But after watching his performance, the judges were less than impressed with his efforts, with the reality star getting a disappointing 4, 5, 3 and 5 from Craig, Motsi, Shirley and Anton.

With Shirley branding his performance "repetitive", while shushing boos from the audience, and Anton critical of his timing, Pete was left defending himself, quipping: "I've got not rhythm mate!" But reflecting on the feedback he was given, Pete took to his Instagram Stories after the show to respond to the criticism, promising fans: "It can only get better," followed by a laughing emoji. He praised his co-star Jowita, saying: "You're the best!"

But Pete's fans jumped to his defence, hitting out at the judges for being 'biased' and "inconsistent". One viewer wrote: "Don’t know what Shirley was thinking, scoring Pete the same as the guy who was STOMPING and kicking an inflatable ball about?! I hate it when the judges are inconsistent." Another fumed: "The judges were so much harsher to Pete then any other couple, hope the isn’t some unconscious bias as he is good mates with Zara."

Another complained about the dance he was tasked with, saying: "Paso on week 1 I thought was very unfair, such a hard dance for the male celeb. I didn’t like the music for this dance at all but Pete did us all proud, completely out of his comfort zone, well done." In a pre-recorded segment, Pete admitted he was concerned about his dancing skills, saying: "I do lack rhythm and natural dance ability – which is a bit of a problem."

Shirley's critique of Pete's dance was particularly scathing. The veteran judge and dance champion started: "Well paso Pete I’m a little bit lost for words really. Paso Doble is built up of a lot of twisting and different figures and this seemed to be repetitive over and over again." Shushing the crowd's boos, she said: "Wait a moment," suggesting she may have something positive to add. But she went in further on Pete, commenting: "I did find the footwork not to be any sort of authentic pasodoble but keep trying and come back next week fighting. But it wasn’t my cup of tea darling."

Craig added: "It looked like you were going through a stroll of the Port Talbot steelworks." Questioned about how he found the dance after his harsh review, Pete stayed positive, saying: "If I’m really honest I loved it. I always said this probably wasn’t the competition for me, but I’ve honestly loved the last few weeks."

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