FORMER Strictly star Artem Chigvintsev has slammed the judges' scores as "all over the place", calling for a new voting system to stop shock exits like Dev Griffin and Dianne Buswell.
Viewers were left fuming on Sunday night when Dev, 34, was booted from the competition – despite his impressive dance routines.
And Artem, 37, agreed with the backlash, insisting that celebrities who land in the middle of the leaderboard after the judges' scores end up getting "screwed over".
Speaking to The Sun Online, he explained: "Strictly is a matter of opinion, it all depends on how the judges feel and how the viewers feel.
"The thing that I think is hard about Strictly is you think the couple in the middle of the board are safe, so they don't get the votes.
"People who are at the bottom always get the votes because people want to save them, so the people in the middle really get screwed over most of the time."
The star, who joined Strictly in 2010 and left in 2013, also believes that the judges are inconsistent with their scoring.
Discussing Dev's shock departure, Artem told us: "The scoring was all over the place on Saturday night and I think that affects people at home.
"There should be an understanding on what we are judging, are we judging personal improvement of each individual or the overall dance?
"In my opinion, the judges should stick to judging purely based on the dancing and it's the audience who should value the entertainment part of it and how much the person has improved."
He continued: "It's weird to see that because one person had an improvement from week one to week three, they get a higher score than somebody who has been consistently good all the way through the show.
"We need to find the balance."
Since leaving Strictly, Artem has enjoyed a successful career stateside after appearing on Dancing With The Stars and finding love with retired pro wrestler Nikki Bella.
He stars in the beauty and her sister Brie's reality series, Totally Bellas, but revealed he'd still be keen to return to the BBC again in the future.
He said: "There is always an itch to come back to the show, I love teaching and performing so it is a perfect combination.
"It's always in my thoughts: 'Should I? Could I?', I can't make the decision – it is up to Strictly producers – but I am open to the conversation in whatever capacity.
"Like a Christmas special, one season… I don't know if I would want to come back full time because my life has changed and I am in LA and I have a girlfriend, so my life is over there but we will see what happens."
And while Nikki is not at all worried about the infamous Strictly Curse, Artem went on to tell us that he'd be keen to have a male partner as he accused Strictly of "losing an incredible opportunity" by refusing to feature a same-sex couple.
Earlier this month, The Sun Online revealed that H from Steps will be partnered with Matt Evers in the next series of Dancing On Ice in a landmark move for prime time TV.
Artem admitted: "I do have to say it is a shame that it wasn't Strictly who did it first.
"I think they lost an incredible opportunity to show that it is OK, it should be totally acceptable and there is nothing wrong with it or beyond that.
"It would be awesome for Strictly to have a same sex couple, I don't know why people get uncomfortable about that – it's a normal thing."
Earlier this week, the Russian pro left Rylan Clark-Neal hot under the collar when he pulled him in for a sexy rumba during an appearance on It Takes Two.
Artem continued: "You could see on It Takes Two what it would look like; in Argentina two male dancers dance together.
"In this country the tango is based between a man and a woman, but it is actually between two guys."
He added that he "doesn't see a reason why not" when it comes to having a same-sex celebrity partner – although confessed that he couldn't imagine Anton Du Beke being on board.
The hunk said: "I can't see Anton doing it with another guy, I just can't picture it.
"I don't know if he would be up for it or not, but I just can't picture him doing it."
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