And it features a gavel
Criminal barrister Robert Rinder’s courtroom-themed performance on Strictly Come Dancing has racked up over 250,000 views on YouTube in just three days.
The 2 Hare Court barrister, who stars on ITV daytime show Judge Rinder, performed a cha cha to the song Mercy by Duffy with his pro dancer Oksana Platero on Friday. The flamboyant performance began with the criminal law specialist sitting on a mocked up court bench. To viewers’ surprise, he then ripped off his robes and completed the dance with a bared torso.
Though he was awarded a middling score of 25 out of 40 for his Strictly debut — putting him in seventh place on the leader board — Rinder’s dance is set to become the show’s most watched online clip, ever.
In terms of YouTube views, Rinder is towering over his competitors. The clip has already been viewed over 250,000 times since it was uploaded on 23 September — at least 10,000 of those by the Legal Cheek team. By way of comparison, the dances performed by fellow contestants Danny Mac, Greg Rutherford and Anastacia, for example, have enjoyed 64,000, 42,000 and 23,000 views respectively.
You can watch Judge Rinder in all his cha cha glory below. Warning: the dance does feature an inappropriate gavel.