Another celebrity left Strictly Come Dancing 2021 in tonight’s results – who was eliminated?
This weekend the four couples danced once more to impress the viewers at home as well as judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood.
Saturday night saw all celebs and their pro partners performing twice for the first time this series.
In Sunday night’s results, the total marks from the judges for the latest dances were combined with the results of the viewer vote.
Who left Strictly Come Dancing 2021 this week?
Those in the bottom two were Rhys Stephenson and his partner Nancy Xu and John Whaite and his partner Johannes Radebe.
After the pair danced again it was Rhys Stephenson who left Strictly Come Dancing 2021 this week.
In the dance off on Sunday, both couples performed one of their two routines again.
Rhys and Nancy performed their Samba to It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera) by Michael Bublé. Then, John and Johannes performed their Jive to Higher Power by Coldplay, in a bid to impress the judges and secure their place in the final.
The judges then chose who to save and it was a unanimous decision.
Strictly Come Dancing 2021 results
Craig Revel Horwood chose to save John and Johannes:”In all the years I’ve been doing the show since 2004, I really do not want to make this decision tonight. This has been one of the most amazing dance offs I’ve ever witnessed. Both couples are equal and both couples deserve to go through and I just want to put both couples through. I know I’m not allowed to do that so I have to choose. I’m going on the technical side and it’s to do with clean finishes. I’d like to put through to the final, John and Johannes.”
Motsi Mabuse chose to save John and Johannes: “Well, I think both couples deserve to stay in the competition but that is not how it works. For me this was a very difficult decision, but I’m going to save John and Johannes.”
Anton Du Beke chose to save John and Johannes: “Like Motsi and Craig, I’d have you both in the final quite frankly. Rhys came out and danced and I thought that would do for me. John came out and I thought, here we go. But then, you’ve just got to look at it and go, OK what do I like? For me tonight, in such an even contest, my nod goes to John and Johannes.”
Although her vote was not needed, head judge Shirley Ballas said she would have agreed with her fellow judges, and saved John and Johannes.
Speaking after his exit, Rhys said: “I might not have gotten to the final but I learnt so much from just being on this show, from everyone here who’s just supported us in this new family. To have the time to spend with this champion of a dancer [Nancy] who’s put so much into me.
“Thank you for just letting my energy shine. Thank you for being that partner. I should use your actual name which is Xu YouJie. Thank you so much Nancy Xu YouJie, for just being there, being my rock and everything I needed to get through this. Thank you.”
Nancy added: “First I want to say a massive thank you to everyone in the show for supporting us from the very beginning. You’ve become stronger and stronger every week. And thank you [Rhys] for being an amazing dancer partner. My first year, it has been absolutely epic.”
After watching their best bits, an emotional Rhys added: “It’s good to cry, it’s good to feel. Strictly makes you feel things. You feel so much and sometimes that’s overwhelming.”
Rhys & Nancy will appear live on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two on the sofa with Rylan for their first interview live on Monday, 13 December from 6:30pm on BBC Two.
Meanwhile, the remaining three couples will take to the dancefloor next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns for the Grand Final on Saturday, 18 December on BBC One.
