Strictly Come Dancing fans rage over BBC bosses changing Cell Block Tango lyrics

Viewers complained the Cell Block Tango was ‘watered down’

Strictly Come Dancing found itself in hot water last night, as fans fumed over Lewis Cope’s shock exit – and the pro dance routine for Cell Block Tango that many declared the raciest of the series.

Lewis and his partner, Katya Jones, bowed out just one week before the semi-final after losing the dance-off to Amber Davies. The decision alone had plenty of viewers grumbling, but it was the earlier performance from the professionals that truly set social media alight.

Taking on a number from the musical Chicago, the pros delivered a sultry, sharply choreographed routine that pushed the show’s usual boundaries. Within minutes, the hashtag was flooded with complaints from viewers who felt the number veered a little too far into late-night territory for their Saturday telly.

But they had a major complain for Strictly’s version of Cell Block Tango…

The pros danced to the Cell Block Tango from Chicago on last night’s Strictly results show (Credit: BBC)

Strictly results show backlash

Last night’s Strictly results show proved to be a shocker. Lewis was eliminated, Amber landed in the bottom two and the pros performed the Cell Block Tango from Chicago.

Clad in stockings and suspenders, the female Strictly pros took on the roles of the musical’s six murderesses, with the male dancers their fallen husbands.

However, the lyrics to the song were pretty watered down, and actually contained no reference to murder. Of course, in the original version of the song, the women explain why they’re in jail and how they killed their significant others.

As a result, many Strictly viewers took to the hashtag to complain. And we can’t say the Beeb didn’t have it coming…
The female pros performed the show’s most raunchy dance yet (Credit: BBC)

Strictly performance of the Cell Block Tango left fans ‘mortified’

“I’m mortified that Strictly changed the lyrics to Cell Block Tango,” said one.

“Honestly why pick a song you can’t do the original of?” asked another.

“Oh I love Cell Block Tango and glad we got the full version and the context ?” mocked a third.

“Right, I love that they all recorded their own parts,” said one, after the female pros voiced the merry murderesses. “But I cannot take any of this seriously because of those ridiculous lyric changes!! I was already underwhelmed knowing they were doing Chicago but that made it farcical. I couldn’t even concentrate on the dancing.”
It was a night of shocks on the Strictly results show (Credit: BBC)
“Strictly taking the murder references out of the Cell Block Tango is enough to make me want to stop paying my licence fee. Don’t mess with perfection!”urged a user on X.

“Why did Strictly choose ‘Cell Block Tango’ if they were going to censor all the violence out of a song about women killing their husbands? What’s the point?” another asked.

“The absolute blasphemy of them changing the lyrics to the Cell Block Tango. Straight to the noose!” another joked.