October 26th 2023.
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole has recently given his opinion on current contestant Zara McDermott. The former professional dancer appeared on the first 15 seasons of Strictly and was partnered with stars including Fiona Phillips, Lisa Snowdon, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor before being dropped in 2017.
This time, Cole has turned his attention to former Love Island star Zara, 26, and claimed to know why she is still in the competition. He believes her strong social media following of 1.8 million Instagram followers has influenced the panel’s decision. Talking to Sky Bingo, he said, “I’m led to believe she has got a tonne of followers across her various social media platforms. The judges will like that and the show will like that because they always want to attract a younger audience. Every year we have a YouTube star or an Instagram influencer and it’s great for the show, as it’ll mean more followers for the show and everything is measured by how many Instagram followers you have these days. So the cynical side of me says they are going to keep Zara around because it means more interest in the show.”
Earlier this week, Zara hit back against other criticisms of her dancing skills when someone on social media tried to dish out advice. Pointing out that the clip they had been commenting on was filmed before the show even started, she proved she had been working hard in the competition.
However, she had to take some time out this week after her boyfriend Sam Thompson went to the doctor after suffering severe kidney pain. Speaking on his podcast with Pete Wicks, Sam detailed how he thought he was ‘dying’, with Zara leaving rehearsals to make sure he was ok. Thankfully, it turned out there was ‘nothing wrong’ with him.
Do you agree with Brendan Cole's thoughts on Zara McDermott? What do you think about the role of social media in the competition? Let us know in the comments. Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6:40pm on BBC One.
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