James Bye became the fifth celebrity to exit Strictly Come Dancin g on Sunday after a tense dance-off ended the BBC ballroom show’s Halloween special weekend.
Hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman introduced the Halloween special under the watchful eye of judges Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
The EastEnders actor faced X Factor alum Fleur East in the ghastly dance off as Strictly embraced the spooky season.
James and his professional dance partner Amy Dowden once again performed their Charleston to Bumble Bee by LaVern Baker.
Then Fleur and her dance partner Vito Coppola performed their Salsa to Break My Soul by Beyoncé in a bid to impress the judges and remain in the competition.
After both couples had danced a second time, the judges delivered their verdicts and all four were unanimous in their decision to save Fleur from elimination.
Craig, dressed as Morticia Addams for the spook-tacular, said: “Well, it’s my responsibility to save the better dancer and the better dancer tonight for me was Fleur and Vito.”
Anton weighed in to say: “I thought both couples danced better on Saturday night. They didn’t reproduce their best performance, but it doesn’t have to be the best performance, it has to be better and I thought their performance was just good enough.”
When asked by Tess about his time on the show, James said: “I’ve said this from the very beginning, all I can do is go out there and do my very best. I am dancing against Fleur East, I went and did my best but she is phenomenal.
“I’ve had the best time on this show and I have a friend for life [in Amy], all I can do is thank the family, and I have a new family now. It’s a competition but you don’t feel like that backstage, you honestly feel like everyone has each other’s backs and everyone is just willing everyone to do their best! “
Amy was then asked if she had any words for her partner, Amy said: “You came on here to show your boys they can throw themselves into any challenge in life, and you are the best role model they could ever have as their daddy! I am so proud of you!”
The results show opened with a spellbinding routine from the Strictly professionals, which told the cautionary tale of Icarus. Then, later in the episode Rina Sawayama performed her single This Hell.
The remaining ten couples will take to the dancefloor next when Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday on BBC One.
