Strictly Come Dancing viewers fume over ‘disgraceful’ elimination as fan-favourite sent home

The seventh couple to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing has been revealed (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy) For one Strictly Come Dancing couple, their dreams of dancing on the Blackpool Tower Ballroom floor have been crushed.

Next week, the glitzy BBC dance show returns to the seaside town, famous for its international competitions and dubbed the ballroom dance capital.

Blackpool Week has become the pinnacle of the Strictly experience, only second to lifting the Glitter Ball trophy in the final – sadly, Will Best will not be there.

This weekend, he and professional partner Dianne Buswell became the seventh couple eliminated from the series, after a dance-off against Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu.

Jaime and Carlos are, of course, no strangers to having to fight for their survival, having already landed in the bottom two several times.

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But for Will, 41, and Dianne, 37, this was their first time in the bottom two, after failing to impress with their paso doble on Saturday night, finishing bottom of the leaderboard with 27 points.

The Big Brother host and Australian pro performed their routine to Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat again, while Jaime and Carlos did their Charleston to I Can’t Do It Alone by Catherine Zeta-Jones a second time.

Delivering their verdict, judges Motsi Mabuse and head judge Shirley Ballas opted to save Jaime and Carlos.

So when Anton Du Beke voted to save Will and Dianne, it came down to Craig Revel Horwood, who had the casting vote tonight.

Ultimately, Craig chose to save Jaime and Carlos, sending Will and Dianne home.

Speaking afterwards, Will told Emma Willis that he’d had ‘the most incredible experience’ and called Strictly ‘the best thing [he’s] ever done’, besides having a baby, whom he’s looking forward to ‘hanging out with’ now at home.

He and Dianne started crying as they hugged, and she said: ‘What a guy! The reason I’m crying is because it could’ve been very hard for me, coming to do this show as a new mum and leaving my little boy, but you made it so easy; you made it the best time ever. You are such a wonderful person to work with.

‘I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have enjoyed every single second.’

Reacting to the result, fans branded it ‘ridiculous’ and said they were ‘gutted’ to see Will leave.

‘Feel so sorry for will. Jamie and him didn’t deserve to be in the dance off’, wrote @Olivia270291 on X.

‘This better be a joke…..I refuse’, raged @RhysxRose while @chazpoppy called the elimination ‘disgraceful’.

Several others fumed over Jaime landing in her fourth dance-off, despite wowing with her comeback last night after a week out of the contest due to injury. She and Carlos scored a mighty 33 and were on cloud nine afterwards.

‘I’m really sad that Jaime is in the dance off for the 4th time. There’s no way she deserved to be there this week. What does Jaime have to do to stay out of the dance off?’, said @RyanSoapKing25.

@harwood_steve declared that she was ‘brilliant’ this week, arguing that Graeme Hall, whose quickstep fell flat and scored 27, ‘should have gone’ instead.

‘i’m growing tired of this series’, tweeted @Fraser_Joneses, and @bettyredondo said it was ‘painful to watch’ her become emotional as she was saved once more.

At least Will can now spend all his time with his new baby boy, since his real-life partner, Tobi Rose, gave birth to their first child just weeks ago.

Elsewhere in tonight’s results show, the professional dancers performed a romantasy-inspired group number, featuring the voice of Tip Toe star and The Traitors US host Alan Cumming.

Also waving the Traitors flag was Sebastian ‘Bash’ Croft, as the series winner performed, accompanied by a routine from Julian Caillon and Jowita Przystał.

It’s been an eventful week in Strictly land – despite Jaime returning from a torn abdominal muscle, which left her in ‘considerable pain’, disaster struck mere hours before showtime when Kai Widdrington took ill.

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The pro dancer had no choice but to sit this week out after being taken to hospital, meaning Delta Goodrem had to switch pros.

But while she and temporary partner Aljaž Škorjanec had ‘a couple of hours’ to learn how to Argentine tango together, they still managed to secure Delta’s highest score of the series with 35.

Full of praise, Anton called it ‘gorgeous’, while Motsi said she rates Delta ‘so highly’ for managing to pull off the impossible at the last minute.

‘It was an extremely crazy week, and we’re so sad that Kai got so unwell yesterday and had to go to hospital, so we’re both sending so much love, watching from home tonight. No doubt he’ll be strong and come back,’ Delta said afterwards as she praised the ‘inspirational’ Aljaž.

Not everyone saw eye-to-eye with the panel, though, as Nikita Kuzmin was called out by Craig for adding several ‘illegal lifts’ into Dani Dyer’s paso doble, telling the pro: ‘You’re taking the mick, darling.’

‘Fair enough,’ the Ukrainian choreographer calmly responded, while viewers protested on his behalf.

And that wasn’t the only clash, as Vito Coppola came to partner Lacey Turner’s defence when their foxtrot was slated by the show’s pantomime villain, who bluntly said: ‘It wasn’t a foxtrot, so I don’t know how we’re meant to judge it.’

Firing back, Vito told Craig: ‘I respect you so, so much. I do. But I take full responsibility because I create the choreography, so the responsibility is ours as a pro.’

Turning to Lacey, who looked on the verge of tears, he added: ‘So you don’t have anything to worry about. You’ve been amazing. You’re beautiful. And I’m so, so proud of you.’

It’s safe to say the competition is heating up now…

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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