Strictly Come Dancing’s Tom Dean has become the first celebrity to be eliminated from the competition after landing in the bottom two.
Despite achieving a respectable score of 23 for his week two performance, the Olympian found himself in a dance-off against actress Toyah Wilcox and her professional partner Neil Jones.
Both couples took to the dance floor once more, with Tom and Nadiya Bychkova reprising their Cha Cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fire, followed by Toyah and Neil performing their Jive to Nutbush City Limits by Ike and Tina Turner.
The judges then deliberated on who would be sent home. However, the decision was not unanimous, with Anton Du Beke voting to keep Tom and Nadiya in the competition and Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood opted to save Toyah and Neil.
Ultimately, it was down to head judge Shirley Ballas to decide who would stay, and she agreed with her fellow judges, ending Tom’s time on Strictly Come Dancing.
In a post-elimination interview with host Tess Daly, the Olympian reflected on his experience, saying: “I’ve had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible.
“I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer. We’ll still go out for loads of brunches I’m sure.”
Nadiya, the professional partner of Olympian Tom, lavished him with praise, adding: “To get to know him, he’s not just a three-time Olympic champion he’s a ‘true’ gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in.
“And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don’t need to win, and that’s how I feel this year.”
Although Tom has danced his last dance in the competition, the audience can look forward to seeing the remaining 14 stars dazzle during next week’s Movie Week Special, reports the Mirror.
At the top of the standings are Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec with an impressive two-week combined score of 65.
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola are hot on their heels, boasting a score of 62 from their performances.
On the flip side, Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones find themselves at the bottom of the leaderboard with a total score of just 30.
However, it is Chris McCausland who stands out as the bookmakers’ favourite to emerge victorious in the series, commanding odds of 11/44, while Tasha trails at 3/1.
Ladbrokes’ spokesperson Nicola McGeady commented: “Chris McCausland has burst out of the traps as the one to beat, something that has taken us by surprise given he was 20/1 before the opening night.”
Strictly Come Dancing contimues Saturday on BBC One from 6:25pm.