The 2016 series launch kicked off with record audience figures and drew in an average of 9.3 million and peaked at over 10 million.
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Jordan, who once starred on the hit BBC One show, claimed that the show bosses favour the married dancers and called them “the show’s darlings”.
Jordan – who quit the BBC ballroom show in 2013 – made the claims during Saturday night’s launch show which saw Will Young paired with Karen Clifton and Louise Redknapp partnered with Kevin Clifton.
Irish presenter Whitmore’s Strictly partner, Italian dancer Pernice, has just come out of a relationship with Georgia May Foote – the actress recently announced their split on Twitter.
Model Daisy is with Aljaz Skorjanec, who won Strictly with model Abbey Clancy in 2013.
And a Strictly insider told the newspaper: “Here we go again”.
Good news for Strictly fans!
But back to James’ tweets, and as the 2016 Strictly Come Dancing series opener aired, he wrote, “Will young has also had lots of dance experience….”
The figures beat Strictly’s 8.7 million viewers in 2015, which pipped The X Factor to the top spot in last year’s ratings battle.
The figures come after The X Factor’s opening programme last weekend suffered its lowest launch ratings in 10 years.
Daisy Lowe put on a courageous face at the launch of Strictly Come Dancing as it was revealed her grandfather had died just hours before the official launch of the show.
Saturday night’s third X Factor episode of auditions was beaten by Strictly, although the rival shows were not broadcast at the same time.
However, The Great British Bake Off, which averaged 13.6 million viewers in its launch episode on 24 August, remains the most watched show this year.
Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger have joined Cowell on this year’s X Factor.
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Mr Balls, who was famously spotted on the dancefloor at the Labour Party conference in 2014 doing a Gangnam Style dance, will swap his suits for tuxedos when he appears on the BBC show.
