Strictly Come Dancing professional Nadiya Bychkova has admitted she’s “devastated” that her celebrity partner Tom Dean has become the first celebrity to be eliminated from this year’s series.
Despite being towards the middle of the overall leaderboard, Nadiya and Tom found themselves in the first dance-off of the series during Sunday’s results show, much to the surprise of many Strictly viewers.
The pair went head-to-head with musician Toyah Wilcox and her professional partner Neil Jones, who three of the four judges ultimately opted to save (only Anton Du Beke voted in favour of Tom and Nadiya).
After the results show aired, Nadiya wrote on Instagram that she was “not ready to talk about what happened tonight just yet”.
One hour later, she told her followers: “I want to say thank you for all the amazing messages tonight. Tom had so much to give and I had so much I wanted to teach him. His improvement in the last two weeks has been incredible and I think, actually I know, he could have become a brilliant dancer. I’m devastated that you won’t get to see that.
“My three-time Olympic Champion was an amazing student and is a wonderful gentleman. He will go on to bigger and better things and I know this year he could have had a brilliant Strictly story.”
She added: “I love this show and I want to wish the other couples all the best and I’m sure it’s going to be a great series. Thank you for your kindness.”
The Olympic swimmer told Strictly host Tess Daly after his elimination: “I’ve had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible.
“I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer.”
Nadiya also heaped praise on Tom, telling Tess: “He’s not just a three-time Olympic champion he’s a true gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in. And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don’t need to win, and that’s how I feel this year.”
Tom later told his own Instagram followers he’d had an “absolute blast” on Strictly, writing: “The journey may have ended a little earlier than I hoped and of course I am so gutted, but I’m so grateful for all the amazing people I met, people I’ll be cheering on throughout and who I know will continue to smash it.
“And to my brilliant partner, thank you so much for everything. You’ve been an amazing teacher and to have danced alongside you has been an absolute privilege.”
The remaining 14 pairs will now move ahead to dance again in Strictly’s annual Movie Week special this weekend.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday night at 6.25pm on BBC One.
