Strictly Come Dancing fans were taken aback on Sunday night when the first celebrity to leave the competition was revealed.
The first results show of the series saw singer Toyah Willcox going head-to-head with Olympic athlete Tom Dean in the dreaded dance-off.
Admittedly, Toyah and Neil Jones’ place in the bottom two didn’t exactly come as a massive shock, after they landed at the bottom of the leaderboard on both weeks of the contest so far.
However, Tom was a bit more of a surprise, as he and his partner Nadiya Bychkova had fallen more towards the middle overall.
Both couples then performed for the judges for a second time, with Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas opting to save Toyah (only Anton Du Beke voted in Tom Dean’s favour).
This meant that the gold medal-winning swimmer became the first eliminated celeb of the series, a turn of events that caught many Strictly viewers off guard.
“I’ve had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible,” Tom told Tess Daly after his elimination.
“I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer.”
Nadiya said of her celebrity partner: “He’s not just a three-time Olympic champion he’s a true gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in. And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don’t need to win, and that’s how I feel this year.”
Tom later wrote on Instagram he’d had an “absolute blast” on Strictly, telling his followers: “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, thank you so much for everything. You’ve been an amazing teacher and to have danced alongside you has been an absolute privilege.”
The remaining 14 couples will dance again at the weekend in Strictly’s annual Movie Week special.
Strictly returns on Saturday night at 6.25pm on BBC One.