Fleur East has broken her silence after Strictly Come Dancing fans were left gobsmacked at seeing her in the dreaded dance-off on Sunday night. During the live show on Saturday, the Hits Radio host and her professional partner Vito Coppola took to the ballroom floor with their The Little Mermaid-inspired routine.
The dancing couple performed an American Smooth to Part Of Your World and scored a more than respectable 29. At the time, Fleur, 34, said the Disney film was one of her favourites, adding: "This was a childhood dream for me." However, despite their good place on the leaderboard, Fleur and Vito found the red light of doom landed on them.
They had to perform their romantic routine again in a bid to keep their place in the BBC One dance competition, going up against Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice. The BBC Radio 2 star and the Italian pro reprised their samba to Hakuna Matata from The Lion King dressed as Timon and Pumbaa.
After both couples performed again, it was over to the judges and Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse, and Craig Revel-Horwood unanimously voted to save Fleur and Vito. While her vote made no difference, head judge Shirley Ballas threw a bit of a spanner in the works by revealing she'd have opted to save Richie and Giovanni.
The results, and Shirley's decision, outraged fans who flocked to social media to have their say. And upon finding out she'd be in the bottom two former X Factor star Fleur reportedly broke down in tears. But breaking her silence on Hits Radio on Monday morning (October 10), she shared her shock at finding herself having to dance again.
"I couldn’t believe it," she said. "Of course, you know someone is going to be called but as soon as you hear your name it’s like ‘oh no’. There was so much technique in my dance and three terrifying lifts. I remember after I’d danced on Saturday I was like ‘phew, done it now, I can relax a little bit and think about the next dance.' But as soon as I knew I was in the bottom two I thought ‘Oh no I’ve got to do it again. I’ve got to do all those lifts again. And with added pressure!’"
She went on: "So, I was very nervous; very, very nervous. Vito just looked at me and said, ‘well you get to be Ariel again’ and it is an amazing dance to dance, so it’s really cool that I got to do it again and I guess that’s what I’m going to take as a positive. I’m so happy and grateful that the judges saved us as I’m not ready to stop dancing with Vito. We’re just getting started!"
Dance partner Vito, however, appears not to have agreed with the judges' critique of the pair. "The comments were kind of the same as previous weeks and that’s OK because it means that we still have stuff to improve on but it’s a shame that they didn’t notice the stuff we had improved from the previous week," he said.
"Craig asked about head shape and positioning - we improved that. They asked about footwork - we improved that, the frame was better. We did a super dangerous lift, that’s quite difficult to do and they didn’t notice, but it’s OK it just means we have to do more."
He continued: "The dance-off was unexpected but it gave me another chance to dance with the little Fleurmaid! And I got so many messages from people saying we didn’t vote because we thought you were going to go through. Sometimes people think ‘they’re good, they’ll be safe’ and they don’t vote but people need to vote!’
Fleur also shared a message to fans on Instagram. Alongside a video of her and Vito's latest performance, she penned: "So grateful to be saved by the judges this week. But so so sad to say goodbye to my friend @iamrichieanderson - thank you so much for your messages of support. We will work harder this week and do our absolute best on the dance floor. @bbcstrictly #fleurito."
Meanwhile, Vito became viewers' new 'crush' after he took centre stage in the professional dancer' big routine ahead of the results on Sunday night. They took to the floor with a routine inspired by 2022 film Elvis, with a leather-clad Vito channeling the iconic American singer. And viewers were quick to react.
@julie.dobson.775 said: "I've got a little bit of a crush on Vito after that dance.... Phew." @emmabridge83 commented: "Obsessed loved it and what can i say about @vitocoppola_real only WOW!!" @meganpsitn tweeted: "Whoever made the decision that Vito plays Elvis in this pro number.......thank you #Strictly." @_erinz_ added: "Vito as Elvis is my absolute favourite concept x #Strictly."
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