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Louise Thomas
Editor
Strictly Come Dancing viewers have been left baffled by eliminated star Toyah Willcox after she made an “awkward” comment about contestant Chris McCausland.
Willcox, who was the second contestant to be knocked out of the competition, was appearing on the Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two when she sent a shocking piece of advice to the remaining contestants.
When asked by host Fleur East if she had any words of wisdom for the celebrities still on the show, Willcox laughed and told the camera: “If you don’t wanna do a dance off, get rid of Chris!”
Willcox’s partner Neil Jones and the host seemed to share an awkward glance at each other, while East seemed speechless as she glanced around the studio.
There was a brief pause before Willcox collapsed into laughter on her partner’s lap.
Willcox then clarified: “You’re all going to have to face a dance-off,” while Neil joked: “I think she has chosen her winner already.”
While it’s clear that Willcox was aiming to complement her fellow McCausland for his dancing skills and popularity among fans, the comments seem to have backfired among viewers watching at home.
“Oh, Toyah, that’s not it!” wrote one viewer on X/Twitter. “That was awkward for both Fleur and Neil”
“Was it panic I saw on their faces when Toyah said ‘get rid of Chris if you don’t want to do a dance off?’”
Another person remarked that Willcox’s comments were “totally uncalled for”.
“Fleur was gobsmacked and just couldn’t respond to Neil was also stunned. [I was] shocked as a viewer too,” added another.
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McCausland has now responded to the backlash, saying that the singer has been “nothing but beautiful and supportive” during their few weeks together on the dancing competition and that he took it as an “incredible compliment”.
Following a tense dance-off during Sunday night’s (6 October) results show, it was Willcox who was the second contestant to be knocked out of the dancing competition.
Willcox, known for hits including “It’s a Mystery” and “Thunder in the Mountains”, and her partner Jones found themselves up against football star Paul Merson and Karen Hauer in the second dance-off of the series.
Both couples performed their Movie Week routines again, with Willcox and Jones dancing the Samba to “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from Little Mermaid.
However, the judges made a unanimous decision to save Merson and Hauer.
Strictly fans were quick to praise the judges for eliminating the “right person”.
“Right result,” wrote one person simply as others praised viewers for voting for the “right bottom two”.
Viewers were left satisfied as one fan posted, “That Strictly result is what you call the correct result and the public voting for the right people”.
