Exclusive – Strictly's Ian Waite “surprised” by judges' low scores for HRVY’s semi-final Rumba

The competition is well and truly on now, with the judges watching for even the smallest misstep. Maisie Smith and Gorka Marquez are currently topping the Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard, closely followed by HRVY and Janette Manrara.

Despite his best efforts, the singer's Rumba didn't fully win over the Strictly Come Dancing judges last weekend, earning him a score of 23.

Speaking of the difficult dance, former Strictly pro Ian Waite revealed to RadioTimes.com he "was quite surprised" about HRVY's scores, saying: "I thought it was a really really good Rumba.

He went on to commend HRVY, for being the only contestant to have danced a Rumba this series. "I thought it was really good on him that he had a go at it.

"He could have settled into his hips a little bit more to give him a more grounded feeling. It would have looked more earthy, and it wouldn't look so high out of the ground. Apart from that, I thought he did a really good job of a difficult dance."

Waite, who finished in third place with Zoe Ball in 2005 and has an upcoming tour titled Ballroom Boys, specialises in Latin American dance, so he is no stranger to the "difficult dance".

"The Rumba is one of those dances that you've tried to avoid and try to avoid, like [the pros have] avoided [it] this year – apart from Harvey doing it – because it's such a difficult dance to do," he said.

If you want to give learning the Rumba, or any other ballroom dance, a go, Waite himself offers one-to-one lessons, which you can book here.

Additional reporting by Grace Henry.

The Strictly Come Dancing final airs Saturday 19th December at 6pm on BBC One. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or take a look at our new TV shows 2020 page to find out what's airing this autumn and beyond.