Strictly Come Dancing fans have reacted after one celebrity narrowly missed out on a chance to dance in the quarter-final.
On Saturday (23 November), the remaining seven couples performed their main routine before a special Samba-thon competition.
Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec sailed through to the next round thanks to their spectacular American Smooth, performed to “Someone You Loved” by Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi.
During Sunday night’s results show, it was EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick and his partner Michelle Tsiakkas, along with Gladiators athlete Montell Douglas and her partner Johannes Radebe who were voted into the dreaded dance-off.
Ultimately, the judges voted unanimously to save Douglas and Radebe, meaning that Borthwick and Tsiakkas were sent out of the competition.
Reacting to the decision, fans argued that The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks should have ended up in the dance-off over Douglas or Borthwick.
“Ain’t no way Jamie deserved to be in the bottom this week, he was absolutely brilliant,” one viewer said. “Sometimes the British public get it SO wrong and this is one of those times.”
”What?! Pete is safe and Montell and Jamie in the dance-off. Absolute joke!” another fan said.
”Gonna need Pete fans to put the phone down cause WHY is Montell in the dance-off twice in a row and that man gets through???” one fan raged.
One gutted Borthwick fan wrote on X/Twitter: “Jamie! You were my winner! Gutted to see you go but what a fantastic journey you had.”
“So sorry Jamie, you were amazing,” another agreed, as several fans claimed the judges had been “overly harsh” on the soap star.
“So sad to see Jamie go,” one fan wrote. “I loved to see his joy at learning new dances. You deserved another week.”
Borthwick’s elimination comes after judges told him on Saturday night that his Foxtrot was a “bit slow and monotone”.
When asked by host Tess Daly about his time on the show, Borthwick said: “Strictly is magic. That is all I can say. Strictly is magic. Not just everyone who you see in front of the camera, these four here [the judges], but everyone who works on this show.”
He said he could “ramble all day” about his partner Tsiakkas, adding that she’s been the “most amazing teacher”.
“She’s a new pro and she’s absolutely been the most amazing teacher,” he said. “We have laughed like you wouldn’t believe. I have nothing but the utmost respect for everyone on the show, so thank you.”
Borthwick joined the 2024 competition after taking home the festive trophy on Strictly’s 2023 Christmas Special edition, alongside pro dancer Nancy Xu.
The remaining Strictly 2024 contestants are Montell Douglas, Sarah Hadland, Pete Wicks, Chris McCausland, JB Gill and Ghouri.
