Strictly‘s dance off was an easy decision this week.
Nick Knowles couldn’t get the sympathy vote after his knee injury. It was his time to go, especially as he was in the dance off with Shayne Ward who never should have been there in the first place.
Of course Knowles was admirable for returning to the BBC show even though he had got injured twice in four weeks. First injuring his shoulder while trying to change a tyre, but the second injury to his knee proved more tricky as he got it while rehearsing and had to sit out for a week.
Determined though, the DIY SOS star and his pro dancer Luba Mushtuk kept delaying the decision on whether they could return in a bid to make sure Knowles could come back.
Read more: Strictly dance off
After approval from the judges, the presenter was able to perform his movie week routine he had planned the week before because of lack of training. This was incredibly special for Knowles because his 10-year-old son Eddie loves Paddington and was excited to see his Paddington 2-themed Charleston.
It would have been hard for Knowles as it was the dance that caused his knee injury in the first place. Plus, the Charleston has lots of knee action and leg flicks as part of the dance.
The telly star wasn’t bottom of the leaderboard this week though.
Certainly, the results could have looked different if Dr. Punam Krishan and her pro dancer Gorka Márquez had to take to the dancefloor again in the dance off. It wasn’t their best week with the Jive to To 2 Be Loved by Lizzo.
Perhaps it was more noticeable as it was a stark comparison to the doctor’s amazing performance of a traditional Bollywood routine to the song Bole Chudiyan in the previous week.
It would have been tough to call on what way the judges would have swayed, with only one point between Dr. Krishan and Knowles. So who knows what the result may have been then? We will never know.
Unluckily for Knowles, it was Ward who ended up in the bottom two with his pro dancer Nancy Xu and there was no Cha-Cha-Chance judges would let the singer go home.
Ward and Xu had already impressed the judges on Saturday and got a respectable score of 30 for their Cha Cha Cha to Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use), just 10 shy of a perfect result. I would never have dreamed of seeing Ward in the dance off this week. It’s a reminder that no one is truly safe from the Strictly dance off.
But it’s not a total shock this has happened because Ward’s journey on Strictly got off to a rocky start.
Despite his skills, the X Factor star has come up against critics online during his short time on Strictly so far. After the first week, the singer was branded “cocky” and “insufferable” for his confidence. It’s unfair really. Why shouldn’t someone feel excited and confident about their Strictly experience?
Signing off from the show, Knowles said: “I’ve really, really been surprised by how much I’ve loved doing it and by two things that happen: One is how much you care each week, and the other is how much you don’t want to let down your partner.”
Unfortunately, it was the 62-year-old’s injuries that let them both down in the end.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC at 6.25pm on Saturday.