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Simon Duke

Strictly Come Dancing's Ellie Simmonds admits to 'tough' week as fans rally after defiant speech

Ellie Simmonds has admitted to having a 'tough' week on Strictly Come Dancing as fans rally to support the star after she delivered an inspiring and defiant speech during Saturday's live show.

Paralympic swimming champion Ellie has struck up an amazing partnership with professional partner Nikita Kuzmin, with the pair leaving the judges moved by their beautiful Waltz to Can't Help Falling In Love With You at the weekend. The pair earned plenty of positive feedback for their touching routine, with particular praise for Ellie's clean lines and expression, with her and Nikita also seeing their scores improve from week one.

Just like the judges, Strictly viewers at home have also been mightily impressed with how Ellie, a pundit on the BBC for this year's Commonwealth Games, has handled her time on the show so far and were left full of respect and admiration for her, not only after her performance but after the message she gave at the end of her latest VT.

READ MORE: Strictly host Claudia Winkleman suffers live blunder in closing moments of show

As she and Nikita appeared on camera during a break in rehearsals, Ellie said: "For our dance on Saturday night, I really hope anyone at home can realise they can dance, no matter who they are."

After she and Nikita made it safely through Sunday's results show and into Movie Week, Ellie took to Instagram to reveal that the week hadn't been without its difficulties Posting a picture of her her and Nikita together, Ellie wrote: ". Thank you ever so much to everyone who took their time to vote for us. Cannot believe we are through to movie week. It’s soooooo exciting!

"Cannot thank @nikita__kuzmin enough for everything this week, his time, his patience, his passion for what he does and being the most loveliest human. Not going to lie it’s been tough trying to figure out this Waltz. From the hold to the stride. But we did it together."

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