James Jordan has slammed HRVY and Bill Bailey and claimed Maisie Smith deserves to lift the Glitterball trophy tonight.
The former Strictly Come Dancing pro has hailed 19-year-old EastEnders actress Maisie as “exceptional” as he praised her quickstep routine as the “standout performance of the year”.
The 42-year-old ballroom dancer told how HRVY is also in his top two but tipped Maisie for the top spot.
The dad-of-one told Ladbrokes: “My standout performance of the year was the quickstep by Maisie Smith.
“It was exceptional. Gorka Marquez created a brilliant routine.
“I would actually go as far as to say it’s the best quickstep I’ve ever seen on Strictly.”
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The pro dancer – who quit Strictly in 2013 after six years on the hit BBC show – gushed: “It was phenomenal.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult the routine was.
“It’s a really fast and intricate dance and it was jam-packed full of difficult steps and they just absolutely smashed it. For me it was epic.”
James, who is married to Ola Jordan, went on to tip the actress for the Glitterball trophy win, saying: “If I had it my way, if we’re talking just about dancing and if it was a proper dancing competition, Maisie would win.”
But James did admit that it would be nice to see his pal Janette Manara win, as she is yet to.
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He went on: “However, I’m torn between Maisie and HRVY. I know Janette Manara personally and it’s the first time she’s made it to the final. She’s such a lovely girl and I would love to see her win.
“I’m not taking anything away from HRVY because he’s been brilliant. Is he as good as Maisie? No.
“But I’d love to see Janette win it from a professional point of view. I think it’s between those two.
“Whichever one is best on the night, I would like to see win; I think it’s that close.”
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Although he admitted his top two includes Maisie and HRVY – who are both the youngest contestants on this year’s series – James revealed he was originally routing for Bill Bailey.
“I felt that in the first four weeks I fancied him to win and he is still favourite in the betting.
“Not only was he brilliantly entertaining and he shocked us all with how good he was, but because of his age he deserved more credit because he’s competing with people that are less than half his age.
“It does make a massive difference, and in my opinion he was smashing it.”
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However, James slammed the comedian who’s performances in recent weeks have less than impressed him.
He savagely said: “In the last three or four weeks he’s just been a bit ‘meh’.
“It’s difficult to say why he’s gone off the boil. It could be the fact that the first three or four weeks really suited him, because when you’re on Strictly, the celebrities will get certain dances that suit them better than others.
“It could be that because he’s an older guy, it’s maybe taken its toll a bit.
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“I couldn’t imagine putting my body through the demands of Strictly again, and Bill’s got about 10 years on me.
“I know I did Dancing on Ice but it absolutely exhausted me and I’m still recovering from it now!
“As you get older it gets more difficult to sustain that level of training.”
*The Strictly Come Dancing final kicks off at 6pm tonight on BBC One.
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/james-jordan-slams-hrvy-bill-23191952