Ugo Monye has become the fourth star to be voted off this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The former rugby player and his professional partner Oti Mabuse ended up in the dance-off on Sunday’s results show after landing in the bottom two alongside Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu.
Ugo had ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard after Saturday’s show, after he and Oti performed a Rumba to Leave The Door Open by Silk Sonic.
And while Rhys and Nancy had fared better with the judges – scoring 32 points for their American Smooth – they didn’t secure enough votes from the public to keep them out of the dance-off.
After both couples performed their routines again, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all voted to save Rhys and Nancy, sending Ugo and Oti home.
Head judge Shirley Ballas added she would also have agreed to save Rhys and Nancy.
Following his elimination, Ugo – who was forced to sit out last week’s competition due to an historic back injury – told host Tess Daly: “I’ve loved it. It’s an absolute privilege to be on this show and all I’ve wanted to do every week is just get a little bit better and I’ve done that.
“There’s lots of people that I would love to say thank you to. Oti, firstly, just for putting up with me. She said she wanted a challenge and she got one! To everyone else that’s in the competition, it’s truly incredible and I wish you all the very best of luck.
“To the judges – Craig – I think it’s really important to say that if you’re willing to accept the positive comments, you have to accept the criticism as well so thank you for all of your comments.”
Oti added: ’I stand here in this very moment feeling very, very grateful. I am so grateful to be partnered with you. Thank you for having me as a teacher, as a trainer. Seeing you through your injury, I appreciate every single moment that you’ve given to me.
“I am grateful for the show. To say I work on the best show in the whole country, with the best celebrities is a privilege and I am very grateful to [Ugo], thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The 10 remaining couples will now take part in next week’s Halloween special, which airs on Saturday at 7.10pm on BBC One.