Strictly’s James Jordan reveals which contestants on this year’s show have professional dance training and why he thinks the judges are tougher on women

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan has revealed which contestants on this year’s series have received professional dancing training.

In this year’s competition, West End star Amber Davies, 29, faced backlash for her previous dance experience, but James insisted she was not the only one and many members of the cast had years of professional training behind them.

James, 47, who has competed on Strictly for eight years, says his expertise as a dancer means he can easily spot which celebrities have a dance background just by watching their Saturday night performances.

Among them, he believes, is 62-year-old actress Alex Kingston, who has already topped the rankings, receiving full marks and even a kiss from head judge Shirley Ballas.

She also suspects Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope, 30, and YouTube star George Clarke, 25, have previous dancing experience, judging by the complexity of their routines, especially compared to some of their fellow contestants.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, James said Alex’s experience was evident when he and partner Johannes were praised for their show-stopping performance during the rumba last week.

West End star Amber Davies faced backlash for her previous dance experience in this year’s competition – but James insists he’s not the only one

Among them, he believes, is actress Alex Kingston, who has already topped the rankings, received full marks and even received a kiss from head judge Shirley Ballas.

James said: ‘We can’t forget that there are a lot of people on the show who have extensive dance training, even when we did the rumba with Johannes last week, we see Alex clearly has dance training.

‘I can say it categorically if everyone says they have dance training. As a professional dancer, I know what you can and cannot do as a non-dancer.

‘So there’s Amber who’s trained in dance, Lewis, George, I don’t know but I assume she has.

‘Then you may see contestants who have no dance training. There are some things Lewis does; For example, when I was on tour, five of us professional dancers, myself, Brendan Cole, Vincent Simone, Ian Waite, Pasha Kovalev and him, were doing things we couldn’t do today.

‘She was trained in different forms of dance because she did things we couldn’t do. So there’s some poor bastard out there who can’t clap along to the music because he can’t hear the rhythm.’

While James says he appreciates having celebrities with professional dance training take part in Strictly, he admits these contestants ultimately have an advantage over anyone without a performance background.

He said: ‘No matter what anyone says, it is clear that there will be a huge advantage over people who do not have dance training.

‘Judges often say the people decide and they have 50 percent of the vote. But if you’re at the top of the leaderboard, it’s nearly impossible to join the dance.

James suspects Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope (pictured) and YouTube star George Clarke have previous dancing experience, judging by the complexity of their routines

While James says he appreciates seeing celebrities with dance training take part in Strictly, he admits these contestants have an advantage over anyone without a performance background.

‘Someone who has no dance training and is at the bottom of the leaderboard needs public support to save himself.

‘If a really good dancer gets into the bottom two they will be saved by the judges. So it makes a huge difference.

‘There are more people on the show with dance training now than there were in my day.

I would say the contestants on ‘Strictly now’ are people who are taught to dance, who have been dancing in west end shows for years, so it’s never going to be a level playing field but that’s the beauty of the show.

‘I’m not saying this is a negative thing or that we shouldn’t have people with dance training. I think there will be a backlash if you go to the show and take dance lessons. It’s just one of those things because you have an advantage.’

Speaking exclusively to Freebets.com, the home of top betting sites, where he works as an entertainment betting expert, James says from his analysis of the programme, he believes Strict judges are generally more critical of female contestants.

The jury panel consists of Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and head judge Shirley, while Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who announced this week that they will be leaving at the end of the series, will serve as presenters.

He said: ‘For some reason they always make fun of the girls, I don’t know why, they never choose the boys because they have dance training.

James, who is married to fellow professional dancer Ola Jordan, says that after his analysis of the show, he believes Strictly judges are generally more critical of female contestants.

Recalling his partnership with Denise Van Outen on Strictly in 2012, when he was also criticized for having a dancing background, James said he had some ideas about what it felt like to be trolled.

‘Let me tell you why, because women are jealous. This is it. ‘Women are jealous of other women being successful and there are a few handsome men on the show who have dance training, but we don’t say anything.’

Recalling his partnership with Denise Van Outen on Strictly in 2012, when he was also criticized for having a dancing background, James said he had some ideas about what it felt like to be trolled.

He added that negative messages can affect a contestant’s mindset on the show, causing them to feel unsupported by viewers.

‘I’ve only really had a backlash once and it’s just one of those disappointing things for the partnership in general,’ he said.

‘You think people don’t like you and that’s why they don’t support you. It kicks you in the teeth and you go into the training room thinking we can’t win if we’re too good.

‘People don’t see the sweat and tears that go into a performance. When I was training with Denise, we would sometimes train 10-12 hours a day and go out on the field.

‘We were training hard because the expectations were so high. Professionally trained dancers, when they go out there and they’re good and people know you’ve studied dance, they expect it to be amazing every week.’