Strictly's Katya Jones hits out at BBC judges amid 'feud' rumours: 'It's week two!'

Strictly Come Dancing's Katya Jones and Lewis Cope have been going from strength to strength on the infamous dancefloor, after dazzling viewers with their latest routine over the weekend. But despite their high scores placing them in second place at the top of the leaderboard, the dynamic duo has come under increasing scrutiny, especially from the BBC judges.

This week, the couple received a respectable 27 points out of 30 for their Viennese Waltz to the hit Lose Control by Teddy Swims. But it's fair to say head judge Shirley Ballas was full of complaints when it came to the judges' feedback.

Following on from her colleague's remarks about their powerful talent on the dancefloor, she told the Emmerdale star: "I get your power, I love everything about your power, I think you're destined for greatness in this competition.

"But for me, I don't see the crash, bang, wallop that everybody else sees." The 65-year-old also noted that the "melody" of the dance was "refined and soft" before labelling the routine as "aggressive".

But it wasn't just Lewis in the hot seat this week, after Ballas shared her criticism of Katya's work, stating: "I'm not saying it has to be perfect when you create a line, you can have the most ugly line and it can still look beautiful.

"So for you [Katya], when he [Anton Du Beke] talks about refinement, that's what he means." During the launch show, viewers blasted Shirley Balla,s claiming she has a "grudge" against the Russian dancer, an opinion which has cropped up repeatedly over the past few years.

On the BBC spin-off series It Takes Two on Monday (October 6), Katya and Lewis were asked by Janette Manrara about their thoughts on the judges' comments. She replied: "I've been thinking about this a lot. There are two sides to it.

"On one side, as a pro, I would really have loved for the judges to vocalise their appreciation for what you [Lewis] did do, for all the steps you spent hours and hours learning.

"They were there, every single Viennese Waltz step, including the freckle that he did on his own, all the pivots all of it. On the other side, dancing is an art form, it's an expression. We put on this number together the way we felt was right for us.

"In any art form, there are opinions from people that don't connect with it, that like it or don't like it. We are here to create what feels right and share it. We let the judges have their say, we are still learning."

She concluded her response by adding: "It's week two" before responding to the criticism that the dance was too "jam-packed". Katya argued: "We never compromised on dancing, and I feel that's really important."

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays from 6.20pm on BBC One or catch up on BBC iPlayer.