As week three of Strictly Come Dancing got underway on Saturday night, fans of the show were treated to a collection of ballroom numbers inspired by the iconic films in the much loved staple of the series: movie week.

Dancing to everything from Top Gun to the Lion King, there was even room for a little intergalactic fun inspired the Guardians of the Galaxy.

However, the performances themselves weren’t the only focus of the show, as the scores were also raising a few eyebrows, particularly from Shirley Ballas.

The 62 year old dancer who currently acts as the head judge on the show, gave out a wide variety of scores on Saturday, with some fans even suggesting that there was a little nepotism at play given the disparity between the scoring.

To kick things off, Shirley had awarded Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice a whopping 8 for their performance of a Samba set to Hakuna Matata from the Lion King – however the performance was widely panned by viewers at home, with many suggesting that the judge was being overly forgiving with her scores.

Later in the show, Ellie Taylor and her partner Johannes Radebe performed a Cha Cha Cha to The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) from Mermaids.

This performance was far more well received by fans at home, with many applauding Ellie for her skill in executing the dance – however it failed to impress Shirley, who brutally gave the star a 5 for her performance, in a move which many deemed was overly critical.

Immediately taking to social media to call out the scoring, several fans couldn’t help but accuse Shirley of ‘targeting’ Ellie in particular for being a young woman, with many suggesting she was deliberately penalising her and holding her to a different standard.

“I’m not gonna mention it again but the ridiculous over marking of Ritchie by Shirley has ruined tonight’s show for me,” wrote one fan, before continuing: “Rude to Ellie. She wasn’t great but she was still better than that. Everyone should get higher than an eight now.”

Another fan agreed, adding: “Shirley has her favourites and Ellie T isn't one of them. Thought the tone of her comments was like a teacher telling off a child.”

Before a third weighed in and wrote: “Shirley gave Ellie a 5? Why does she mark the women harder than the men.”

Another fan also felt the same, as they remarked: “I love Ellie and Johannes, this wasn't her dance, she looked a bit uncomfortable, but Shirley was really going at the younger woman again eh.”

Countless more comments followed, including one which felt Ellie in particular was Shirley’s “target” as they wrote: “I really don’t care about anyone this szn but ellie is quite obviously Shirley’s target and it’s really unfair.”

Another fan however, also felt it was part of a wider issue as they added: “kay but the difference between Shirley’s feedback for Matt and her feedback for Ellie T is worlds apart and it reeks of internalised misogyny.”

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