Shock result for 'Strictly Come Dancing' as Lee Ryan goes home and Charles Venn is in the bottom two

(BBC)
(BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing’s Movie Week had an unexpected ending with a shock eviction for one celebrity.

Blue singer Lee Ryan and his partner Nadiya Bychkova have been voted out of the competition in a twist that they didn’t see coming as two of the better contestants found themselves in the dance off.

Lee had been harshly judged for his Back to the Future-themed Cha Cha Cha, scoring just 19 points and landing at the bottom of the table – but despite his tough week, he was considered one of the stronger dancers this series.

However, the former EastEnders star had struggled in the public vote as he’d also been in the bottom two last week when Susannah Constantine went home, even though he’d had a much higher score.

Lee did at least manage to ditch around two stone of costume for his second go at the dance.

Even more surprisingly, Lee’s dance off was against Casualty actor Charles Venn, one of the series favourites who has impressed with his confident routines.

Charles and his partner Karen Clifton danced their American Smooth inspired by An Officer and a Gentleman again, which wasn’t their best dance but had still earned them a respectable 25 points.

Judges Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, and Bruno Tonioli all chose to save Charles and Karen, with Darcey explaining: “I wish both these couples weren’t here so it’s tough, but the better couple for me was Charles and Karen.”

That meant that head judge Shirley Ballas didn’t need to cast her vote as Charles was already safe, but she admitted that she disagreed with her co-stars.

Shirley said: “I would have gone with Lee on the musical performance from this evening.”

Lee had seemed very emotional all weekend about having been in the bottom two last week, and looked devastated to be leaving.

He said: “I’ve had a really lovely time, even though it’s been short it seems like I’ve been here a long time because it’s been so intense, it’s been amazing.

“I love these guys, I absolutely love every single one of them. There’s so much love in everyone, it’s been a memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life.”

Meanwhile, Graeme Swann was the highest-scoring male celeb as Spider-Man after wowing with a fun Charleston.

We also found out that Faye Tozer has drawn the short straw and will be dancing the first Rumba (nobody’s favourite dance, ever) of the series next week.

Sunday night’s show also included a special guest performance from Gladys Knight who sang Bond theme Licence to Kill, and the pro dancers performed a tribute to Singing in the Rain.

It involved a lot of splashing and rolling around in, basically, a giant paddling pool – the wardrobe department are going to have some dry cleaning bill on Monday morning.

Lee’s exit will be a sobering reminder to the 13 remaining couples that no one is safe from being voted out – it’s an especially strong year, so putting in a reasonably good performance won’t be enough each week.

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