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Alexandra Burke addresses 'hurtful' criticism from Strictly viewers

The singer has been labelled 'fake' by some viewers

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Gemma Strong
Online Digital News Director
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Alexandra Burke has seriously impressed the judges during her time on Strictly Come Dancing, routinely securing high points from the panel and successfully making it through to the semi-finals. But she hasn't been such a big hit with some viewers. The 29-year-old has been voted into the dance-off in the last two weeks of the competition, and has even seen her emotional reactions on the show branded 'fake' by fans on social media. "Twitter seems to have given people permission to be incredibly hurtful," Alexandra said in a new interview with Radio Times. "They don't seem to realise that I have feelings and get upset."

She continued: "The saddest thing is that I started the show completely myself – my joy and my tears were 100 per cent genuine, however much people said they were fake. But now I'm so self-conscious, I try not to react in case people say, 'Oh look, here are the fake tears again.'"

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Alexandra Burke has spoken about the 'hurtful' criticism she has received from Strictly fans

Earlier this week, Alexandra responded to reports she had had a "meltdown" backstage after finding herself in the bottom two again. A source had told The Sun: "Alexandra was sobbing and shaking in the green room after the dance-off. She couldn't understand why the public had voted her into the bottom two for the second week in a row despite getting great scores. She had to be reassured by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, she seemed inconsolable."

However, on Monday morning, Alexandra tweeted: "Because it's really hard to read lies. I have to say something... after the show on the weekend I actually WASN'T in the green room. I was in the physio room treating an injury and then went home. NO meltdown... just happy that we made it through another week xx."

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