Actress and TV presenter Lynda Bellingham tonight became the fourth celebrity to be voted off the seventh series of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.
In week four of the competition, all 13 of the remaining celebrity contestants and their professional dance partners took to the floor to dance either a foxtrot or a salsa.
After last night’s performance, the combination of the judges' scores and viewer votes left Lynda Bellingham and her professional partner Darren Bennett in the bottom two and facing the dance off with Craig Kelly and his professional partner Flavia Cacace.
Lynda and Darren then performed their foxtrot to Neil Sedaka’s ‘Calendar Girl’ and Craig and Flavia their foxtrot to Dan Hill’s ‘Sometimes When We Touch’ for a second time for the judges' deciding vote.
Making their decision on who to save, the judges said:
Craig Revel Horwood: "Well this is a tough one actually because of course the male celebrity has to lead and the female celebrity must follow, and in this situation it’s very difficult but I’m going for the most confident couple on the dancefloor tonight and that was Lynda and Darren."
Alesha Dixon: "I think both couples came out and did themselves really proud, but the couple who I felt matched the brief better is Lynda and Darren."
Bruno Tonioli: "Well this is very, very hard because actually Craig said it, the man has to lead in this, the woman has to follow. For me I will have to go with Craig and Flavia."
With two votes in Lynda and Darren’s favour and one vote in Craig and Flavia’s favour, that left Head Judge Len Goodman to cast his deciding vote:
Len Goodman: "It was a very, very difficult decision to make because I thought they both came out and upped their game, however I have to pick one and I’m going for Craig and Flavia."
On tonight’s show, Lynda and Darren were awarded 24 points for their foxtrot by the judges.
Lynda Bellingham laughingly said: "It was having all those affairs with you (Bruce) at lunchtime that let me down!" (When asked what she would miss most about Strictly) "Everybody, and Darren’s been absolutely fantastic. Brilliant. Good luck and Craig, they got the best man on the night." (When asked if she’d continue to dance and maybe take some dance lessons from Darren) "Oh yes you’ll have to ask my husband about that. Thank you very much."
Darren Bennett: "We’ve had a great time."
The show saw Dionne Bromfield perform her forthcoming single "Mama Said", with her godmother Amy Winehouse on backing vocals. Viewers were also treated to a stunning tap dance choreographed by Ryan Francois, performed by Dougie Mills and Mattias Lundmark and accompanied by Strictly’s professional dancers.
Next week, the remaining 12 couples in the competition will perform either a Jive or a Viennese Waltz.
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