Strictly Come Dancing professional AJ Pritchard was reminded of his unfortunate track record on the show on live TV shortly after his elimination with latest partner Lauren Steadman.
AJ and Paralympian Lauren missed out on a spot in this weekend’s final, after ending up into the bottom two along with Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev on Sunday night.
Lauren and AJ were back together once more on Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday (December 10), where host Zoe Ball managed to leave AJ at a loss for words.
On the show, Zoe asked the pro dancer whether it was "so frustrating" to leave when he did because it was "the third year in a row" he’d been eliminated at the semi-finals, having also missed out on the finals with Mollie King and Claudia Fragapane.
Lauren chuckled nervously as the camera panned over to AJ, who seemed to be either surprised or embarrassed to have his disappointing track record brought up during his exit interview.
“Yeah,” he deadpanned. “I dunno what to say to that.”
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Sure enough, AJ wouldn’t say anything else about it before Zoe assured him that he was loved by the It Takes Two team. Meanwhile, his partner Lauren admitted she was sad to miss out on the finals.
"I’m really gutted," she acknowledged. "I think as an athlete, you always go for that gold medal! It was the Glitterball for us. At the same time, I’m really chuffed with how far we got.
"I’m so proud of us. We thought Halloween, then we thought Blackpool. Then we got to the semi-finals!"
The Strictly Come Dancing finale airs on Saturday (December 15) at 6.30pm on BBC One as one couple will win the Glitterball trophy. The special will also feature music from crooner Michael Bublé.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
