OLYMPIC gold medalist Tom Dean has spoken out after being the first celebrity to leave Strictly Come Dancing last night.
Tom, 24, found himself in the dance off against singer and actress Toyah Willcox, 66, and was axed after being given the boot by head judge Shirley Ballas.
Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova were sent home from Strictly Come Dancing last night[/caption]
Tom said an emotional farewell to his fellow co-stars in Sunday’s result show after facing Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones in the dance off[/caption]
Tom has spoken out on his time with pro Nadiya Bychkova[/caption]
Tom and pro dancer Nadiya Bychkova were sent home after they performed their Cha Cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire for one last time.
Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Toyah and Neil and Motsi Mabuse followed suit, after finding fault with Tom’s footwork and timing during his Cha Cha.
But Anton Du Beke thought Tom and Nadiya danced better and voted to save him.
With two votes for Toyah and Neil, and one vote for Tom and Nadiya, Head Judge Shirley had the deciding vote and chose to save Toyah and Neil.
Explaining her reasons, she said she agreed that his timing was off.
Following their exit a furious Nadiya spoke out on Instagram and took a swipe at the show.
Heartbroken Tom also took to the platform, and told fans: “Coming straight from the Paris 2024 Olympics into Strictly Come Dancing has been a whirlwind but I’m so so proud.
“The journey may have ended a little earlier than I hoped and of course I am so gutted, but I’m so grateful for all the amazing people I met, people I’ll be cheering on throughout and who I know will continue to smash it.
“And to my brilliant partner @nadiyabychkova, thank you so much for everything. You’ve been an amazing teacher and to have danced alongside you has been an absolute privilege.
“Over and out Strictly! You’ve been an absolute blast x”
Breaking her silence after the news, Nadiya wrote: “I really appreciate all the messages but I’m not ready to talk about what happened tonight just yet.”
Her former partner on the show Dan Walker was also furious at the decision and shared his own post.
He wrote: “What just happened on Strictly feels a bit messed up.
“@tomdean00’s departure will go down as one of THE early shocks. Lovely bloke who really could have become a great dancer. He looked like he was loving every second of it and @nadiyabychkova looked like she loved teaching him.
“I’m not an expert – and I’m happy for someone to explain – but how he lost that dance off is completely beyond my comprehension. Genuinely thought they could have gone a long way.”
Fans were also left furious with the result and claimed the judges were told to save Toyah after Tom performed better on the scoreboard across the weekend.
“Absolute fix. They obviously have some deal to give Neil more air time this year. Poor Tom. Not on at all,” wrote one fan.
“Tom has been robbed!! Toyah was by far the worse dancer!!! Absolute Fix” said a second.
A furious third wrote: “No…wrong wrong wrong…..getting fed up with this show now,think the judges must be being told who to save, Tom should have stayed over Torah 100%”
“WHAT? Toyah went through to next week over Tom?” raged a fourth. “That’s wrong, Toyah was one of the lowest scoring competitors,along with paul merson.
“Judges call themselves experts, they must either been blindfolded/paid off or told by bbc to put Toyah through.”
Strictly Come Dancing’s Second Week Scores
As is tradition, the first week scores are rolled over and combined into the second week. Here’s how the leaderboard now looks after the combined scores
- Tasha and Aljaz = 65 (30+35)
- Sarah and Vito = 62 (30+32)
- JB and Amy = 58 (31+27)
- Montell and Johannes = 56 (26+30)
- Wynne and Katya = 56 (26+30)
- Shayne and Nancy = 52 (21+31)
- Chris and Dianne = 52 (23+29)
- Jamie and Michelle = 50 (23+27)
- Sam and Nikita = 45 (23+22)
- Tom and Nadiya = 43 (23+20)
- Nick and Luba = 39 (18+21)
- Pete and Jowita = 39 (17+22)
- Dr Punam and Gorka = 37 (19+18)
- Paul and Karen = 32 (17+15)
- Toyah and Neil = 30 (12+18)
