Halloween Week is always a highlight in the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ calendar, but not everyone was a fan of the Day Of The Dead-themed opening number on Saturday night.
The remaining celebrities joined the professional dancers dressed in Mexican-themed outfits for the colourful performance to Harry Belafonte’s ‘Jump In The Line’, which featured skulls, sombreros and Day Of The Dead iconography.
But while some viewers loved the performance, comparing it to Disney’s ‘Coco’, others called out what they saw as “cultural appropriation” and pointed out that Day Of The Dead is not related to Halloween.
But not everyone was offended…
In Mexico, the Day of the Dead – or Día de Muertos as it is known – is celebrated on 2 November, and is a holiday that marks the passing of friends and family and supports their spiritual journey.
Ashley Roberts and Faye Tozer had plenty to celebrate after both scoring 39 points and topping the ‘Strictly’ leaderboard on Saturday night’s show.
The former Pussycat Dolls star and Steps singer wowed everyone – including all four judges – with their jaw-dropping routines, which earned them the highest scores of the series.
But it wasn’t just what was happening on the dance floor that had viewers talking.
Nicole Scherzinger made a surprise appearance when she sat in the audience to cheer on her former Pussycat Dolls bandmate Ashley.
But when Tess Daly squeezed in next to Nicole, the former ‘X Factor’ judge looked less than impressed and appeared to mutter something to the host at the start of the link, prompting many viewers to speculate what was said.
