Strictly Come Dancing faces fresh 'fix' rumours

It's been reported that while panelists - Lenn Goodman, Darcey Bussell, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood - aren't in the studio when the dancers practice, they are watching through a monitor with the show's producers.

A source told The Sun newspaper: ''As far as the viewers are concerned, the first time the judges watch the routines, are when they are performed live. ''They always act with stunned surprise if a performance is really good or bad and make out their comments and marking are off the cuff.''But in reality they have watched the routines hours earlier. The judges are with a producer who in all likelihood knows the previous week's voting figures.

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''If there is someone they want to keep in, who is scoring low with viewers, they could mark them high and keep them in.''

A BBC spokesman has confirmed the reports but told the paper that the show is not a set-up - claiming the judges prepare the comments to ensure their remarks are suitable before the watershed.They added: ''This has no impact whatsoever on the scores given on the night. At no point does anyone from production try to influence any of the judges' opinions.''Speculation the show was fixed began to circulate after professional dancer Ola Jordan quit after ten years on the show. The 33-year-old claimed the judges are told by producers how to mark the contestants based on ratings.

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Panelist Len Goodman hit back at the claims, telling TV host Zoe Ball: “Eleven years I’ve done this show and never has a producer come up to us and said, ‘Mark this person up a bit, we want them to stay in’.

“They never interfere with our integrity, they never tell us what to say, we are not scripted to say this or that.

“We just come out, say what we see and give a score and I totally understand sometimes I’ll give someone a seven and millions of people sitting at home will say that’s a nine. We’ve all got opinions. It’s taste, I like Brussels sprouts, you don’t.”