Greg Rutherford has become the ninth celebrity to depart the dance floor on this year’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The Olympian was voted off the BBC ballroom competition after he and partner Natalie Lowe landed in the dance off alongside Claudia Fragapane and AJ Pritchard.
Greg’s Quickstep to ‘Hand Jive’ by Cha Na Na received a mixed reception from the judges on Saturday’s (19 November) Blackpool special, landing second from bottom of the leaderboard with 32 points.
Claudia, on the other hand, received 36 points for her Jive to ‘Hey Mickey’ by Toni Basil.
After, both couples performed their routines again, all four judges voted to keep Claudia in the competition.
Talking to host Tess Daly about his ‘Strictly’ experience Greg said: “It’s been one of the most of incredible things in my life. I’ve been very lucky in my life, I’ve done some amazing things but this is truly one of the best things I’ve done. I’ve much such a good friend here.
His professional partner, Natalie added: “You are an amazing man, you’ve never had any dance experience and you got out there and you’ve just shown the world that you can dance.
“Honestly, this has been the most incredible experience of my life performing and dancing every Saturday night with you; I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Sorry I couldn’t get you any further.”
Greg’s elimination also meant Ed Balls survived another week in the competition, despite being bottom of the leaderboard with just 23 points for his Jive to ‘Great Balls Of Fire’.
Next weekend will see the remaining six couples will dance a Cha Cha at the same time in the Cha Cha Challenge, where everyone will be hoping to impress the judges for valuable extra points.
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ continues on Saturday (26 November) at 7pm on BBC One.