Strictly Come Dancing star's three words to partner after brutal exit

The third celebrity has been eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing after competing in the dance-off

Strictly Come Dancing returned tonight for its results show, sending another contestant home after a nail-biting dance-off. Last week, the BBC audience said goodbye to Toyah Willcox, who alongside partner Neil Jones, found themselves pitted in the bottom two against Paul Merson and Karen Hauer.

Tom Dean with Nadiya Bychkova also made an exit as the series' first departure. In the latest twist of events, following last night's performances, fans saw Love Island's Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec take the top spot on the leaderboard.

The evening's less stellar routines were delivered by Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk with their highly anticipated Movie Week Charleston, scoring 21 points, and Dr Punam Krishnan along with Gorka Marquez whose Jive got them the lowest score of 20 points. In a turn that sealed his doom, DIY SOS presenter Nick and his partner Luba entered the dreaded dance-off against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu.

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Despite Shayne and Nancy sitting mid-leaderboard with their Cha Cha, it was expected when judges voted unanimously to save them. Reflecting on his journey, ousted star Nick expressed, "I've really been surprised by how much I've loved doing it."

He added an insight into the emotional ride: "Two things happen: one, is how much you care each week, and the other is how much you don't want to let down your partner.", reports the Mirror. "The only reason I could do this this evening was because of Luba's changes."

Speaking of his time with Luba on the show and her ability to modify routines due to his injury, he said: "She did amazing." An emotional Luba commended Nick's "determination" as she fought back tears, telling him: "Thank you."

Nick offered his gratitude to the team who supported him during his injury and extended best wishes to his fellow contestants. Nick's departure from the competition hit particularly hard as he had just come back after being sidelined by a significant injury.

Hanging in the balance, Nick's continuation on the competition was uncertain before Saturday's live performance, with doubts cast on whether medical staff would give him the green light to dance again. After being absent and on crutches due to an accident which kept him away from Movie Week, he bounced back to perform the Rain On The Roof number from Paddington 2 with Luba yesterday evening.

During last week's dress rehearsal, Nick suffered a knee injury after a misstep from a jump. Earlier in the series, he had already experienced a shoulder injury while changing a car tyre independent of rehearsals. Despite that pain, he powered through the week's dance but subsequently had to rehearse for several sessions with his arm in a sling.