Tuffers’ innings comes to an end in Strictly

Former England cricketer Phil Tufnell was given out last night as he became the latest celebrity to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

Tufnell and his partner Katya Virshilas lost out to Eastenders actor Ricky Groves in the dance-off.

Judges Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli opted to save the former spinner but Craig Revel Horwood and Len Goodman, who has the deciding vote, saved Groves for performing the cleaner dance out of the two.

Tufnell will no doubt feel hard done by after scoring a personal best 31 points for his American Smooth – finishing fourth on the leaderboard. However he failed to get the backing from the public.

Ricky Groves and Erin Boag managed only 29 points for their Vienese Waltz – but performed better in the dance-off to keep them in the competition.   

It was an eventful night on the show with presenter Bruce Forsyth missing the show due to illness. He was replaced by both Claudia Winkleman and a cameo appearance from comedian Ronnie Corbett.

Then it was revealed at the start of the show athlete Jade Johnson had to pull out from the night’s show after sustaining a knee injury during rehearsals earlier in the day.

Johnson and her partner Ian Waite revealed how her knee ‘popped’ and a doctor told Jade she could not dance on the night.

The athlete is currently receiving treatment but it is not yet known if she will be able to dance next week.

More drama followed later in the show when Laila Rouass and Anton Du Beke’s Rumba was halted midway through the dance due to the actresses’ ankle injury.

Knowing she could no longer to continue, Du Beke lifted her around the dancefloor with Laila in floods of tears.

Tess Daly then told viewers how Laila was close to pulling out like Johnson with her injury but chose to go through with the show.

Faced with a difficult decision, the Judges said they would score the points from what they had seen – they scored just 22 points and found themselves bottom of the leaderboard.

But luckily the pair were saved by the public to leave Tufnell and Groves in the dance-off.

Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle and The Bill actress Ali Bastian found themselves joint-top of the leaderboard with 35 points each for their Jive and Cha Cha Cha dances respectively.

The seven remaining celebrities in the contest include Ricky Whittle, Ricky Groves, Chris Hollins, Ali Bastian, Natalie Cassidy, Jade Johnson and Laila Rouass.

Hopefully the show will convert back to normality next week as we head into the ‘business’ period of the competition.

Related Posts

• Lythgoe Believes ‘Strictly’ Will Get The Chop
• Chris and Ola crowned champions of Strictly
• Strictly heartache for Laila and Anton
• Is Arlene set for a quick return to Strictly?
• Cassidy gets the boot in Strictly