Strictly bosses have had a tough week defending their decision to cancel last Sunday’s dance-off that saw Melvin Odoom get eliminated by the public vote because Anastacia wasn’t fit to dance.
There’s been some public sympathy for the American singer who got injured in training and was told not to dance by medics who feared she might rip her mastectomy scars. But there’s been much greater outcry over the rules that give her a free pass.
The consensus from professional dancers and the public seems to be: if you can’t dance, you need to step aside for someone who CAN razzle dazzle us.
Appearing on the Strictly spin off show, “It Takes Two”, Anastacia addressed the controversial decision that kept her in the competition.
She told host Zoe Ball: "I didn’t want to have to injure myself but with a dance off, you just don’t know what to do. It’s all a bit confusing. I totally thought I was going to go.
"I mean, [Melvin] lives here, I’m an American. Who knows her? So when they called my name, it just was the worst. I wanted him to go through because I couldn’t dance. But I’m here!"
When asked about her health, Anastacia revealed: "I’m feeling great. It feels like it’s been two weeks since Saturday, I’m really feeling good!"
In a fortunate turn of events, Anastacia is set to perform the Viennese Waltz this Saturday to “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. The dance has its own technical challenges but is less physically demanding that the salsa which ruled her out last week.
She explained: "This dance was made for my injury" and Brendan added: "Should we go forward, there will be dances that we’ll have to adapt, but this is not one of them. It’s soft and delicate.
"We don’t have to do anything in any number that we don’t want to do. It’s just about being aware of what we’ve got to do and delivering a performance that suits."
Anastacia may be back but the jury’s out on whether Bruno Tonioli has sufficiently recovered from his backstage outburst over the cancelled dance off. The fiery judge reportedly flipped out over the producer’s decision to give Anastacia another spin at Melvin’s expense.
A source told the Daily Star Bruno was so angry, he stormed off to his car and demanded to be taken home. They added: "The studio audience had no idea about the backstage drama."
There’s a cloud hanging over hunky Olympian, Greg Rutherford, who was also involved in a freak accident during last week’s rehearsals. Now the Anastacia drama has died down (a bit), Greg told the Daily Star: "We've actually had to adapt our jive because we wanted to do a really extreme jump into a lift. It was epic.
"But then during rehearsals, Nat missed the position and as she grabbed me, she ripped her nail off, which bled everywehre.
"Then we tried again and we lost it. I fell to the floor and couldn't move. I feared I'd never have children again it was that bad."
Despite the accident, Greg and Natalie delivered a stellar performance. So it will be all eyes on Anastacia and Bruno this weekend to see if the show goes off without a hitch!
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One this Saturday at 6.45pm.
What do you make of Melvin's elimination? If Anastacia disappoints this weekend, should she go? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter (@CloserOnline).