First celebrity leaves Strictly after dance-off

Until now, it's each been amusive and games.

But connected Sunday night, the Strictly Come Dancing contention started for existent - with 2 contestants facing the archetypal dreaded dance-off to determine their fate, pursuing a nationalist vote.

Three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean and his nonrecreational dancing spouse Nadiya Bychkova squared disconnected against popstar Toyah Willcox and her spouse Neil Jones, with some couples performing their routines again earlier the judges delivered their verdicts.

If you don't privation to cognize who's the archetypal personage to permission Strictly Come Dancing 2024, look distant now...

In the end, it was 24-year-old Dean who departed the dancefloor, aft his cha cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fire fell abbreviated of Willcox's jive to Nutbush City Limits by Ike and Tina Turner.

Only Anton Du Beke chose to prevention Dean, with each 3 different judges voting to prevention Willcox, 66.

Speaking to big Tess Daly aft the verdict, Dean said helium wished helium could person "gone further and done much dances".

"I've had the champion clip [over] the past fewer weeks and getting to enactment with Nadiya has been incredible," helium said.

"I've had the astir amusive and I privation we could support going longer and longer. We'll inactive spell retired for loads of brunches, I'm sure."

His spouse Bychkova added that Dean was "a existent gentleman", and that helium had taught her "how to enactment truly hard and however to enactment everything in".

On Saturday, each 15 couples took to the dancefloor.

Dean and Bychkova stepped retired successful sparkly fringed outfits, but Bychkova suffered a wardrobe malfunction causing her to stumble slightly. In the end, the brace received a full people of 20.

Comedian Chris McCausland, the show's archetypal unsighted contestant, performed a foxtrot with his spouse Dianne Buswell to Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by The Tams, which went down well.

Head justice Shirley Ballas gave him a lasting ovation and called him "an illustration to each personage upstairs erstwhile it comes to footwork".

DIY SOS prima Nick Knowles besides managed what Ballas called an "absolutely amazing" performance, contempt lone 16 hours of rehearsal clip pursuing an wounded earlier this week.

But it was Love Island prima Tasha Ghouri who topped the leaderboard.

She and creation spouse Aljaž Škorjanec received the archetypal scores of 9 successful the latest series, for their Viennese waltz to Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore.

Host Claudia Winkleman aboriginal pointed retired that Ghouri's begetter had been successful tears successful the assemblage portion watching her performance.

Other highlights included JLS prima JB Gill and his spouse Amy Dowden's cha cha, which landed them a people of 27, and opera vocalist Wynne Evans and spouse Katya Jones' Viennese waltz.

Willcox and Jones stay astatine the bottommost of the leaderboard for the 2nd week successful a row.

More than six cardinal radical tuned successful for Saturday night's unrecorded amusement connected BBC One.

This year's bid follows a rocky fewer months for Strictly, with a fig of erstwhile contestants making allegations astir their clip connected the show.

The BBC launched an probe aft histrion Amanda Abbington claimed her erstwhile creation spouse Giovanni Pernice had behaved abusively towards her, which helium has denied.

Last week, the BBC's manager wide Tim Davie refused to springiness a day for erstwhile its study would beryllium published, but insisted: "We're beauteous adjacent to the extremity of that work."

The BBC has responded to the complaints by making changes down the scenes. From this year, determination are chaperones successful each rehearsal rooms, and determination are besides 2 caller dedicated payment producers.

It has ever insisted it would ever instrumentality immoderate issues earnestly and enactment erstwhile made alert of inappropriate behaviour.