STRICTLY Come Dancing fans are convinced that Les Dennis had secretly been planning to leave the show.
The funny man, 69, became the first celebrity to be voted off the hit series on Sunday night when he and professional dancer Nancy failed to impress the judges in the dance-off.
Sources told The Sun that Les and Nancy had clashed behind the scenes because they struggled to “gel” and he was just “going through the motions”.
Fans of the show have since discovered that Les was still expected to be taking part in the 42nd Street tour – while doing the competition.
The tour kicked off on October 3rd in Southampton and will run until October 28th in Belfast.
According to the various venue websites, Les was due to play Bert Barry through the run, but would be taking Friday and Saturday’s off for filming.
A confused Strictly fan said: “Les was meant to be on Strictly every weekend and training during the week, but he’s also doing the gruelling tour.
“It’s a bit bizarre if he was planning on doing both doing at the same time. It’s not surprising he struggled with the training if he was doing both.
“Most celebs spend 12 hours a day just practising their dance routines – not working on another job.”
Les and Nancy were bottom of the leaderboard after two performances, and as Nancy paid tribute to her dance partner on Sunday evening, she mentioned the pair facing “a lot of challenges”.
The dancer said: “It’s been a journey. This is such a short but a sweet journey. A lot of challenges we all know, but to see you (to Les) every day improve yourself. I respect you so, so much.”
In the dance-off Les and Nancy performed a Samba to Rock The Boat by Hues Corporation up against Nikita and Gorka dancing a Charleston to Beyoncé‘s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
