Craig Revel Horwood has asked Strictly Come Dancing viewers to give new girl, Alesha Dixon, a chance and added that he is angry about the public backlash against her.

“This backlash is horrendous and I don’t think she deserves it,” he told the BBC. “She deserves to be given a chance and it makes me very angry that she’s not.

“If you go back and look at the first weeks of any of us, Arlene, Len, Bruno and I, on any of our early recordings none of us were perfect right away. Alesha has got to be given a chance. She’s up there to form a critique and that’s what she is doing.”

Craig also thinks the public may donate their sympathy votes to Phil Tufnell and Jo Wood on this years series.

“I think we might find the John Sergeant next week, when we’ve got Phil Tufnell taking to the floor. We might even find a female version in Jo Wood after seeing her in the group dance.”