Strictly’s Anton Du Beke steps in to defend Amber Davies ahead of final

Anton Du Beke shared his thoughts on the upcoming Strictly final as he appeared on This Morning

Strictly judge Anton Du Beke has defended Amber Davies ahead of the BBC show’s final.

Former Love Island contestant Amber has wowed the judges on the ballroom show, but she has faced criticism from trolls, with some people complaining about her dance background and her experience performing in the West End.

Discussing the upcoming final on ITV’s This Morning on Friday (December 19), Anton said the backlash was “not fair” and that he hoped people would just tell Amber: “You’re great.”

Talking to hosts Dermot O’Leary and Angela Scanlon, he noted how Amber stepped into the show at the last minute after Dani Dyer was injured, saying: “She is so extraordinary. She is… she’s really brilliant. I mean, her Charleston in the quarter-finals, I think, her Charleston was just out of this world. Her Couple’s Choice in the semi-finals was out of this world. She’s done a lot of really brilliant things.”

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Anton called Amber ‘extraordinary’

Dermot mentioned that the star had a bit of a “hard time,” and Anton said that it was “not fair really.”

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The judge then demonstrated how Amber’s previous experience differed from the ballroom and Latin world, saying that she had to “relearn everything” in a new way.

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“So, for her, I’m delighted she’s made the final, for her, because she has danced brilliantly,” he said.

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Anton Du Beke talked about the final on This Morning

“What I’d like people to do is, whether they vote for her or not, it’s irrelevant, but I’d like them to just go, ‘You are great’.”

Amber, who is paired with pro Nikita Kuzmin, is set to go up against YouTube star George Clarke and his pro partner Alexis Warr and football legend Karen Carney and her dance partner Carlos Gu in Saturday night’s final (December 20).

Anton said for him “the joy of the final is that I don’t have to choose the winner”.

“It’s the audience,” he said.

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Amber is paired with pro Nikita Kuzmin on the show(Image: BBC/Guy Levy)

He explained: “We’re giving a guide, and we’re going, well, this is going well for them, or, OK, well, that might… Because some people, and it’s natural, have over-tried in finals and have gone a bit wrong. And that’s not unsurprising.”

“They are all marvellous because they are in the final,” Anton said of the three finalists, adding that there was an “excellent, excellent standard”.