Will Mellor left the judges 'speechless' as his Strictly Come Dancing debut drove viewers at home wild on Saturday night, had his pro partner Nancy Xu in tears and drew comparisons to former champion Kelvin Fletcher.
Former Hollyoaks and Two Pints of Lager actor Will was labelled as 'one to watch' with the bookies from the moment his name landed on the Strictly line-up, with judge Craig Revel-Horwood also saying during a One Show interview that Will was the celeb he was most looking forward to watching.
Well Will certainly up to the hype as he and Nancy, who did rather well last year alongside Rhys Stephenson, performed a red hot jive to Ricky Martin summer 1999 smash Livin' La Vida Loca. Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse were both beside themselves on the panel as they shot out of their seats to give them a standing ovation.
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As Strictly viewers flocked to Twitter to heap praise on Will, the judges were full of glowing feedback for the No Offence star and partner Nancy. Motsi struggled to get her words out as she made mention of Will's hips, shouting: "What is this man? What is this man? Please help us all!" She added: "You surprised me. I'm speechless. That was fantastic," before making a very bold declaration, telling Will: "Best start ever!"
Head judge Shirley was just as enthusiastic as her colleague, remarking that Will 'gave THAT look," before Anton Du Beke shouted: "That was so good!" Will and Nancy shot past Molly Rainford t go to the top of the leaderboard after getting 8s from Craig and Shirley and 9s from Motsi and Anton, giving them a total score of 34.
Fans were also full of superlatives for Will on Twitter and it didn't take long for comparisons to be drawn to 2019 winner Kelvin Fletcher, who also made an unbelievable debut after being called up as a stand-in contestant.
One tweeted: Feeling Kelvin Fletcher vibes from Will great first dance," with another writing: "I think Will Mellor @Mellor76 will be the new @kelvin _fletcher."
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