Nick Knowles has become the third celebrity eliminated from the 20th anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The DIY SOS star, 62, returned to the dancing competition this weekend, having missed out on movie week following an injury to his knee, and an injury the week before resulting in his arm in a sling.
Saturday’s epic show saw fans shocked by Pete Wicks’ unrecognisable new hair-do, Chris McCausland once again leaving us gobsmacked and the audience on their feet with another incredible routine, and a surprise literary guest in the audience.
Elsewhere, Wynne Evans and Katya Jones were forced to address rumours they’d fallen out, after the Go Compare star raised eyebrows and was accused by fans of ‘inappropriately touching’ his pro partner.
Away from rumours of backstage drama, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri topped the leaderboard for the third consecutive show and scored the first 10s of the series, earning a standing ovation with the highest score so far, a whopping 34 from the judges.
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Nick however wasn’t as lucky with his scores, after performing his Charleston to Rain On The Roof from the Paddington 2 soundtrack with Luba Mushtuk.
Earning a 21, he was left facing the dance off against former X Factor winner Shayne Ward and his dance partner Nancy Xu.
Shayne and Nancy performed their cha cha to Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) by Sub Sub featuring Melanie Williams, which had earned them a 30 from the judges on Saturday.
Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke won the majority vote as they all chose to save the singer, 39, with head judge Shirley Ballas agreeing with their decision.
Asked about their time on the show by co-host Tess Daly, Nick said: ‘I’ve really, really been surprised by how much I’ve loved doing it and by two things that happen.
‘One is how much you care each week, and the other is how much you don’t want to let down your partner.
‘The only reason I could do this is simply because of Luba’s changes, she’s been amazing.’
He added: ‘Luba’s been amazing and just been so fabulous every day.
‘And I should say thank you also to all the background staff, the physios, all the people that have actually got me through this week, and to all of my fellow competitors who have been absolutely astounding, beautiful people.
‘There are some amazing dancers up there, and I will love watching the rest of the series.’
Nick had injured his knee during rehearsals on the Friday prior to last week’s Saturday night show, saying ‘it was a huge disappointment’, and he was later pictured on crutches.
He had also suffered an injury to his shoulder and arm while changing a tyre, leaving his inclusion in the competition up in the air before it was confirmed just days before the live show.
Ahead of their live show, Nick said on It Takes Two: ‘I’m getting sick and tired of my injuries, everyone else must be getting fed up with it as well.
‘I want to be able to do the dance well enough tomorrow that I’m just judged on the dance and not any of the other things.
‘If you think about it, everybody has got things to deal with, Chris is doing amazing things every week, Punam [Krishan] is holding down a GP job whilst training, everyone has their own mountains to climb.’
The last two weeks of Strictly have also seen Toyah Willcox and Olympian Tom Dean eliminated from the competition.
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