Fans of the show also blasted Jordan and accused him of being “bitter and “jealous” while another joked that he should try and bag himself an appearance on Who’s Doing the Dishes?”.
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Model Lowe is with Skorjanec, who won Strictly with model Abbey Clancy in 2013.
And a show insider added, “Here we go again…”
Never one to hold his tongue, James – who was axed from the show in 2014 – offered his opinions on the new series, with him already tipping Louise Redknapp and Kevin Clifton for the final.
Balls will compete against singer Will Youn g, model Daisy Lowe, Olympian Greg Rutherford and actresses Lesley Joseph and Tameka Empson.
Saturday night’s pre-recorded show, with judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood, also featured performances from Olly Murs and Rebecca Ferguson.
The episode which saw celebrities and dancers paired off in teams, took a 46.6% viewing share for broadcast TV, peaking at 10.1 million viewers.
Last year’s launch episode got an average of 8.7 million viewers.
The 14th series of the ballroom dancing show, which beat The X Factor in the ratings a year ago, goes live in three weeks.
Meanwhile, ratings for ITV’s The X Factor improved from last weekend, when its series opener got an average audience of 6.8 million – its lowest for an opening show in 10 years.
Saturday night’s third X Factor episode of auditions was beaten by Strictly, although the rival shows were not broadcast at the same time.
Strictly proved more popular than The X Factor, which attracted 8.3m viewers.
Strictly Come Dancing has barely got off the dance floor but it has already found itself at the centre of a fix row after James Jordan suggested that producers want certain people to win.
Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger have joined Simon Cowell on this year’s X Factor.
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Eddie Davis, 82, was thrilled his granddaughter was taking part in the BBC show and she has vowed to dance to some of his favourite songs to pay tribute to him, following his sudden death from a heart attack.
