Bruno Tonioli hit out at Mollie King over her lack of timing as the pop star struggled in Saturday night’s Strictly Come Dancing semi-final.

The Saturdays’ singer performed a samba with partner AJ Pritchard to Shakira’s Whenever, Wherever as they looked to secure a spot in next week’s grand final.

But a routine labelled “jerky” by judge Darcey Bussell struggled to impress and the duo scored just 24, putting them bottom of the leaderboard after each couple had performed once.

The real criticism came from Tonioli who told King that “Southern Rail had better timing”.

He added she had “missed the flight to Brazil”.

Fans on Twitter were amused by Tonioli’s comments, while the person running Southern Rail’s account even chipped in with their own commentary.

@SophieMilosz called the remarks “hilarious” while @MattHemley tweeted: “Southern Rail has better timing than you”. Insult of the series there Bruno.”

@UncleGagag posted: “Below the belt comment from Bruno: ‘Southern rail has better timing than you…’ Ouch.”

@JulianCoxlawyer tweeted: “Not the sort of publicity a network rail operator wants. Well done Bruno.”

And the official Southern Rail account posted: “I think Bruno should think about the guy behind the Twitter account before he hands out niche disses like that. Tweet volumes are going UP. ^Isana.”