Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas has revealed that she was left "crying" and unable to sleep after the controversial elimination of Lewis Cope last weekend. The Emmerdale actor and his partner Katya Jones found themselves in the dance-off against Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, despite the two couples being the highest-scorers of the series.
Appearing on spin-off It Takes Two tonight, Shirley told host Fleur East that she found the whole thing "quite difficult".
Speaking ahead of tomorrow's semi-final, she said: "I didn't sleep yesterday, I didn't sleep when Lewis got eliminated. And I probably won't sleep tonight, because you never know where the show's going to go at the moment.
"It's not set, it could be anyone who goes home and anyone who can win. So it's going to be very interesting tomorrow."
Asked about last weekend's elimination, she recalled: "I was crying, Motsi [Mabuse] was crying. We went upstairs, both the boys [Craig Revel Horwood and Anton du Beke] also.
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"To see two fantastic dancers in the bottom two was heart-wrenching. Normally I can do it, but for some reason last week it was quite difficult, and lots of tears with Motsi and I. We were consoling each other."
The show's quarter-finals intensified the online discourse around contestants who are perceived to have more prior dance experience, with Amber's score of 40 for her Charleston sparking up lots of debate – debate that got so heated, she had to remind people to "please be kind".
Addressing her followers later in the week, she said: "A lot of noise has gone on, on social media, and is going on. But I've had a lot of people, amazing people – kind people who don't even know me, and people do know me – asking, 'Are you OK?'.
"And I promise, I am literally fine. I feel so lucky that I am in the semi-finals. I'm gonna continue to work hard."
She added: "The world wouldn't go round if everybody liked everyone. So it's going straight over my head, so do not worry... Thank you, if you have messaged me."
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She, Balvinder Sopal, Karen Carney and George Clarke will each perform two dances this weekend in a bid to make it to the final.
Balvinder and her pro partner Julian Caillon will perform a Waltz to 'At This Moment' by Michael Bublé and a Salsa to a Gloria Estefan mash-up. Karen and her partner Carlos Gu will also dance a Salsa, with theirs being to Vicki Sue Robinson's 'Turn the Beat Around'. Their second routine is a Waltz to 'One Moment in Time' by Whitney Houston.
George and Alexis Warr are set for a Charleston to 'We No Speak Americano' by Yolanda Be Cool and a Samba to 'Volare' by Gipsy Kings; while Amber and Nikita will perform a Couple's Choice to Raye's cover of 'Fly Me to the Moon', and a Tango to 'Higher' by Michael Bublé.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online, specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who'll listen.
