Strictly: Angela Rippon does splits in the air during dance

Angela Rippon has sparked fears from a former Strictly Come Dancing professional, due to her lack of fast-paced routines in the competition so far.

The 79-year-old, who is Strictly’s oldest ever contestant, has amazed fans with her age-defying dance moves since the show kicked off last month.

But while her top scoring performances have been widely praised, some fans have started to get “annoyed” and are claiming the Rip-Off Britain presenter has only been given slow dances by Strictly bosses.

One of those also expressing concern that the TV host’s routines with partner Kai Widdington are too one-note is former Strictly pro Brendan Cole, who won the first-ever series of the show with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky.

“There’s a certain freedom that comes within the Latin numbers that you can really exploit in Strictly and I don’t know that we’ve seen that from her [Angela] yet,” Brendan said in a chat with Sky Bingo. 

READ MORE Strictly’s Angela Rippon and Kai hit back at criticism over star’s ‘slow dances'[LATEST]

“If it doesn’t come soon, she’s not going to get better. Having said that she’s already really, really good and she’s embracing what Strictly is and I think that’s magnificent.”

He added: “I don’t think we’ve seen many contestants like her in terms of that so far. This was the first time since the show started, I thought ‘Crikey, I mean, give her the glitter ball’, she’s really, really good for her age and for her demographic.

“All credit to her and Kai and production actually for being able to create those magical moments whether they can keep doing it for another seven or eight weeks? Time will tell.”

The legendary newsreader and Kai danced the Argentine Tango to Tanguera by Sexteto Mayor on Saturday night, to high praise from the judges.

Craig Revel Horwood claimed she “put the rip in Rippon”, while head judge Shirley Ballas praised Angela’s chemistry with Kai. But while many fans also shared their delight on social media, a number of others revealed that they had been left frustrated.

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One wrote: “Can someone please tell me why Angela R is getting all the slow dances and not any fast ones?” Another said: “I like Angela but I’m annoyed she keeps doing pretty much the same slow dance every week. Time for a proper challenge.”

A third commented: “Not taking away from her performance because I think she’s pretty amazing, I think the producers have done her a favour with her dances.

“Apart from the first week Cha Cha Cha where scores don’t really count and judging is more lenient, all her dances have been slow and/or in hold as well as suiting her ballet background. Interested to see how she gets on with Samba, Salsa, Jive etc.”

While another shared the sentiment and added: “Lacking the obvious Argentine tango leg actions… Played it safe I feel … bring on the jive or samba eh?!”

Over the weekend pro dancer Kai rushed to the defence of Angela after critics claimed slower dances have given her an unfair advantage.

And on Monday, Angela took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and also put those claims to bed as she teased her Halloween-themed dance will be “fast and furious”.

In a video on her Instagram, where she has just over 24,000 followers, Kai fights Angela’s corner as he takes aim at those who have critiqued their performances so far – before promising that this weekend’s routine will be quicker than ever.

“We can’t quite yet tell you what it’s going to be, but we can tell you that it’s going to be fun and fast,” he said. “Because there were some people saying, ‘Oh, Angela is only doing slow dances.’ Well, let me tell you, this one’s fast.”

Interjecting, Angela added: “I haven’t done only slow dances. I mean, I did the Quickstep and the Cha Cha Cha. This week will be fast, furious and a lot of fun.”

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