Cheryl spotted in Strictly Come Dancing audience

Strictly Come Dancing was a night of special guests with pop star Cheryl spotted in the audience.

The former Girls Aloud singer is a former competitive dancer herself and a judge on BBC show The Greatest Dancer.

Eagle-eyed Strictly fans spotted Cheryl, 36, in the audiences of the BBC One celebrity dance contest as hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman were making their entrance down the stairs, and Daly later shared a picture of the singer backstage with the presenters.

Week 5 also saw American actor Alfonso Ribeiro - best known for his role as Carlton in The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air - return as a guest judge. Ribeiro won the US version of the show Dancing With The Stars in 2014 and was a big hit when he guest judged on the BBC series last year.

Read more: Shirley Ballas had breast implants to 'save' second marriage

The 48-year-old actor filled in for Bruno Tonioli and is celebrating his seventh wedding anniversary to wife Angela Unkrich while in London.

BBC Breakfast presenter Mike Bushell and Katya Jones performed the samba to Jump On It by The Sugarhill Gang, a dance that Ribeiro had performed himself when he won Dancing With The Stars. The judges were not impressed with Craig Revel Horwood saying: “I recoiled in horror darling, it was like watching a three-year-old attempt it.”

But the crowd were delighted to see Ribeiro leave the judging panel and show them how it should be done.

CBBC puppet Hacker T. Dog was also a special guest in the Strictly audience this week as he turned out to support his CBBC co-star Karim Zeroual perform the salsa with professional partner Amy Dowden to Who Let The Dogs Out by the Baha Men.

The feel-good track had all the judges up on their feet and earned an impressive 36 out of 40.

Ribeiro told 25-year-old TV presenter Zeroual - who was top of the leader board last week - “You brought the dogs in, you fed ‘em and you let them back out again!”

JLS star Aston Merrygold also made a surprise appearance, visiting Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse in rehearsal as they were dancing the Cha Cha to his own song Get Stupid. Merrygold competed in the show himself in 2017 but only made it through to week 7. He wished the couple good luck as the song is very fast.

Fletcher and Mabuse opened the show with a Venice Beach-themed Cha Cha to welcome Ribeiro to the panel. They scored 33 out of 40 and soap hunk Fletcher won praise for his “flirty” performance.

Read more: Strictly Come Dancing: Saffron Barker's back pain agony

Ribiero commented: “The seat of your pants had the ladies hot!”

Comedian Joe Lycett also popped up to read the Terms and Conditions this week, and gave a “shout out to my mum”.