Seann Walsh and dance partner Katya Jones can kiss goodbye to their chances of winning the Strictly Come Dancing glitterball trophy as they became the fifth couple to be sent home from this year’s series.
Seann looked pretty deflated by the news, asking Katya with a quizzical expression: “What do we do now?” Was he referring to the last dance, the weeks ahead they had scheduled for training…?
The headline-grabbing duo were the unanimous pick of all four judges to leave the competition following a dance off with cricket star Graeme Swann and Oti Mabuse.
Stand up Seann, 32, was left at joint rock bottom of the leaderboard on Saturday night alongside Dr Ranj Singh and Janette Manrara and newsreader Kate Silverton and Aljaž Skorjanec after the judges gave him 20 points for his Halloween routine.
But Graeme was pulled into the battle for survival after his Cha-Cha-Cha performance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller – awarded 21 points by Shirley Ballas, Bruno Toniolo, Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood – failed to win over viewers.
Read more: Shirley Ballas fires back at Strictly fans for criticising her marking
Seann and Katya managed to escape the chop last week in a crucial decider opposite DJ Vick Hope and Graziano Di Prima, baffling many fans who expected the controversial comedian and his partner to be booted off the dance floor after their infamous snogging scandal earlier his month.
But Seann’s fate finally seemed to be sealed after his Viennese waltz to I Put a Spell on You was blasted by Craig last night.
Correctly predicting Seann and Katya would find themselves in the dance off once again, the pair were stunned as he savaged their timing.
“I thought it was lacking all the way through,” he said, to boos from the studio audience.
Read more: Strictly viewers mock Darcey Bussell as she muddles up two very different words!
He concluded: “Not your one, I’m afraid.”
Darcey agreed with Craig’s assessment, saying their interpretation was “jerky and skippy” and out of sync with the music despite the dancing couple’s efforts.
Shirley was a little more positive, but also echoed the judges’ previous comments and took issue with the footwork on display.
She added: “It lagged a little bit, there were a couple of little mistakes but there were also a few places where I could pick out one or two good things – so good try.”
Bruno praised the artistic direction of the dance, finding it “visually intriguing”, but had to concede that it “technically wasn’t very good”.
Seemingly resigned to being in the dance off, Seann later said he found Craig’s evaluation “deflating”.
“I just want to get to a week where we smash it,” he added.
Sadly for Seann that won’t be happening in terms of competitive future appearances on Strictly.
Elsewhere on the show this weekend Ashley Roberts (with Pasha Kovalev) and Faye Tozer (dancing with Giovanni Pernice) both picked up three tens apiece for their spooky performances.
Host Tess Daly also had an extremely awkward moment with audience member Nicole Scherzinger and some viewers blasted the programme’s opening group number as racist.
Susannah Constantine and Anton du Beke, Lee Ryan and Nadiya Bychkova, Katie Piper and Gorka Márquez and Vick and Graziano have already been eliminated from this sixteenth series of the hit BBC show.
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.