Fleur East "couldn't believe" she was in the bottom two on 'Strictly Come Dancing.'
The Hits Radio Breakfast Show with Fleur East. Listen live at hitsradio.co.uk
The 34-year-old star is currently taking part in the BBC Latin and Ballroom competition but was taken aback when it was revealed she and professional partner Vito Coppola had to dance the American Smooth to 'Part of Your World' from 'The Little Mermaid' once again on Sunday (09.10.22) to stay in the competition.
She said: "I couldn’t believe it. Of course, you know someone is going to be called but as soon as you hear your name it’s like ‘oh no’. There was so much technique in my dance and three terrifying lifts and I remember after I’d danced on Saturday I was like ‘phew, done it now, I can relax a little bit and think about the next dance’. But as soon as I knew I was in the bottom two I thought ‘Oh no I’ve got to do it again. I’ve got to do all those lifts again. And with added pressure!’ So, I was very nervous; very, very nervous. Vito just looked at me and said, ‘well you get to be Ariel again’ and it is an amazing dance to dance, so it’s really cool that I got to do it again and I guess that’s what I’m going to take as a positive. I’m so happy and grateful that the judges saved us as I’m not ready to stop dancing with Vito. We’re just getting started."
The former 'X Factor' contestant and radio host was saved by judges Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood and - although head judge Shirley Ballas would have opted to save eventual eliminees Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice - Vito admitted that while the dance-off was "unexpected", he enjoyed getting another chance to perform with his "Little Fleurmaid."
Speaking on 'The Hits Radio Breakfast Show with Fleur East', he said: "Of course we always are grateful for the feedback and we take it seriously because we want to work and improve. The comments were kind of the same as previous weeks and that’s OK because it means that we still have stuff to improve on but it’s a shame that they didn’t notice the stuff we had improved from the previous week. Craig asked about head shape and positioning - we improved that. They asked about footwork - we improved that, the frame was better. We did a super dangerous lift, that’s quite difficult to do and they didn’t notice, but it’s OK it just means we have to do more.
"The dance off was unexpected but it gave me another chance to dance with the little Fleurmaid! And I got so many messages from people saying we didn’t vote because we thought you were going to go through. Sometimes people think ‘they’re good, they’ll be safe’ and they don’t vote but people need to vote!"
The Hits Radio Breakfast Show with Fleur East. Listen live at hitsradio.co.uk
Tagged in Craig Revel Horwood Anton Du Beke Fleur East