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

Maisie Smith found herself in the dreaded dance-off for the second week in a row on Strictly Come Dancing 2020 despite scoring second highest in the BBC One dance contest with 27 points.

The EastEnders actress, 19, clearly isn’t a hit with the voting public because their lack of votes sent her from near the top into the bottom two.

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

I don’t like Maisie but JJ deserves to be in the dance off 100% more than her #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing

— London living 2020 (@living_2020) November 22, 2020

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!”

Maisie can’t do right for doing wrong
I know plenty of quiet young girls who would admire her confidence and actually be inspired by it
But there are people who chose to be intimidated by It instead. I hope she doesn’t lose her confidence she’s too adorable #Strictly

— Jessica???? (@Jessiebobbs) November 22, 2020

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

#Strictly

I think with Maisie…the public assume because she's soo good she'll get all the votes where she's not!! pic.twitter.com/xY3D4ApjNf

— RoBerto????????️‍???????? (@SunzhineDude) November 22, 2020

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

Right I'm voting for @maisie_smith_ 3 times next week. She doesn't deserve to be in the dance off again nor those last two times! How are some of the others getting through? ????‍♀️#strictly #StrictlyComeDancing

— Faye (@Fayer20__x) November 22, 2020

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!”

Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or take a look at our new TV shows 2020 page to find out what’s airing this autumn and beyond.