Strictly Come Dancing fans try to make sense of the Maisie Smith mystery

Many Strictly Come Dancing fans were shocked by her "undeserved" tumble down the table.

There was a lot of sympathy for Maisie. One fan tweeted: "#Strictly feel for maisie, she's a young lass who's getting a lot of flack for being young and over excited about dancing on the biggest show on telly".

Another posted: "I'm getting cross now. Maisie is a bright, bubbly girl with hardworking attitude. Why are young girls judged differently? Confidence is a positive thing for young girls. So is aspiration and drive I dont understand the hate and moaning. Personally I think shes fab!"

There were plenty of theories about why she wasn't popular with the Strictly audience.

Some Strictly fans are determined that she won't be in the bottom two next week.

Maisie prevailed in the dance-off and Strictly Come Dancing said goodbye to the popular Jonathan Creek and Blue Murder actress Caroline Quentin.

In the dance-off, Caroline and Johannes Radebe danced the Cha Cha to Rescue Me by Fontella Bass, and Maisie and Gorka Márquez performed a Salsa to Better When I’m Dancing by Meghan Trainor.

Both judges, Craig Revel Horwood and stand-in Anton du Beke opted to save Maisie and Gorka, while head judge Shirley Ballas agreed that she would have chosen to save Maisie.

Horwood told Maisie that "odd things happen" in the show but he was convinced she had what it takes to "win the hearts and minds of the public".

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan criticised the judges' scores for creating the problem. They believed inferior dancers like JJ Chalmers were being overmarked, which meant better dancers such as Maisie were being exposed to the public vote.

James said: "She's in a different class, a different league, a different stratosphere when it comes to dancing. The leaderboard is actually so important when it comes to who's going home – it plays a massive part."

He added: "It's not fair for those people if they're not in the right position from the judges' scores, it makes it a lot easier to be dropped to the bottom two with the public vote. We're all going through difficult times and we all want a bit of fun in our life – and Strictly has given us that – but you've got to be honest when you're judging. You can't be too nice!"

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