Till now, it is all been enjoyable and video games.
However on Sunday evening, the Strictly Come Dancing competitors began for actual – with two contestants dealing with the primary dreaded dance-off to resolve their destiny, following a public vote.
Three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean and his skilled dancing accomplice Nadiya Bychkova squared off in opposition to popstar Toyah Willcox and her accomplice Neil Jones, with each {couples} performing their routines once more earlier than the judges delivered their verdicts.
Should you do not need to know who’s the primary celeb to depart Strictly Come Dancing 2024, look away now…
In the long run, it was 24-year-old Dean who departed the dancefloor, after his cha cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fireplace fell in need of Willcox’s jive to Nutbush Metropolis Limits by Ike and Tina Turner.
Solely Anton Du Beke selected to avoid wasting Dean, with all three different judges voting to avoid wasting Willcox, 66.
Chatting with host Tess Daly after the decision, Dean mentioned he wished he may have “gone additional and carried out extra dances”.
“I’ve had the most effective time [over] the previous couple of weeks and attending to work with Nadiya has been unbelievable,” he mentioned.
“I’ve had probably the most enjoyable and I want we may hold going longer and longer. We’ll nonetheless exit for a great deal of brunches, I am certain.”
His accomplice Bychkova added that Dean was “a real gentleman”, and that he had taught her “tips on how to work actually laborious and tips on how to put all the pieces in”.
In an Instagram put up, Dean mentioned though he was “gutted” his journey had ended sooner than he had hoped for, the present had been an “absolute blast”.
“I am so grateful for all of the superb folks I met, folks I will be cheering on all through and who I do know will proceed to smash it.”
He thanked Bychkova for being an “superb instructor”, and known as it an “absolute privilege” to have danced along with her.
On Saturday, all 15 {couples} took to the dancefloor.
Dean and Bychkova stepped out in sparkly fringed outfits, however Bychkova suffered a wardrobe malfunction inflicting her to stumble barely. In the long run, the pair obtained a complete rating of 20.
Comic Chris McCausland, the present’s first blind contestant, carried out a foxtrot together with his accomplice Dianne Buswell to Be Younger, Be Silly, Be Glad by The Tams, which went down effectively.
Head choose Shirley Ballas gave him a standing ovation and known as him “an instance to each celeb upstairs with regards to footwork”.
DIY SOS star Nick Knowles additionally managed what Ballas known as an “completely superb” efficiency, regardless of solely 16 hours of rehearsal time following an damage earlier this week.
But it surely was Love Island star Tasha Ghouri who topped the leaderboard.
She and dance accomplice Aljaž Škorjanec obtained the primary scores of 9 within the newest sequence, for his or her Viennese waltz to Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore.
Host Claudia Winkleman later identified that Ghouri’s father had been in tears within the viewers whereas watching her efficiency.
Different highlights included JLS star JB Gill and his accomplice Amy Dowden’s cha cha, which landed them a rating of 27, and opera singer Wynne Evans and accomplice Katya Jones’ Viennese waltz.
Willcox and Jones stay on the backside of the leaderboard for the second week in a row.
Greater than six million folks tuned in for Saturday evening’s dwell present on BBC One.
This 12 months’s sequence follows a rocky few months for Strictly, with various former contestants making allegations about their time on the present.
The BBC launched an investigation after actress Amanda Abbington claimed her former dance accomplice Giovanni Pernice had behaved abusively in the direction of her, which he has denied.
Final week, the BBC’s director normal Tim Davie refused to offer a date for when its report can be printed, however insisted: “We’re fairly near the top of that work.”
The BBC has responded to the complaints by making modifications behind the scenes. From this 12 months, there are chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, and there are additionally two new devoted welfare producers.
It has at all times insisted it might at all times take any points severely and act when made conscious of inappropriate behaviour.