Former Strictly Come Dancing winner, Darren Gough, has said that new judge Alesha Dixon needs to stop sitting on the fence and get more critical of the dancers, if she wants to succeed.

Alesha has faced a massive backlash from Strictly fans since she replaced Arlene Phillips on the show, now Darren has jumped aboard the bandwagon.,

Dareen told The Sun:

“Poor Alesha. She’s a lovely girl and a terrific dancer.

“One of my proudest moments was beating her in the Champion of Champions but as a judge she found it very, very hard.

“I think some of the stick she’s taken has been a little bit too far, but she’s got to improve and be more critical.”

He said Alesha had tried to “sit on the fence” so far, adding: “She said basically the same thing to everyone – ‘You look nervous, but nice start to the competition’.

“People don’t want to hear that. They want to hear dance judges criticising or praising them technically as well.

“Arlene was fantastic at that.”