STRICTLY fans have branded the show a fix after fan-favourite Tom Dean was booted off the show in tonight’s first elimination.
Olympic gold medallist Tom, 24, found himself in the dance off against singer and actress Toyah Willcox, 66.
Both couples performed their routines again, as Tom and pro dancer Nadiya Bychkova performed their Cha Cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Toyah and Neil Jones then took to the dancefloor for their Jive to Nutbush City Limits by Ike & Tina Turner.
80s punk icon Toyah landed at the bottom with Neil Jones, scoring a total combined score of 30, and Tom found himself in ninth place with 46 points.
After both couples danced a second time, the judges delivered their verdicts.
Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Toyah and Neil and Motsi Mabuse also picked to save the same couple.
But Anton Du Beke thought Tom and Nadiya danced better and voted to save him.
With two votes for Toyah and Neil, and one vote for Tom and Nadiya, Head Judge Shirley Ballas had the deciding vote and chose to save Toyah and Neil.
When asked by Tess about his time on the show, Tom said: “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. We’ll still go out for loads of brunches I’m sure.”
Nadiya added: “To get to know him, 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.”
Fans were left furious through by the exit, branding the show a “fix” for not saving the star who performed better on the scoreboard across the weekend.
“Absolute fix. They obviously have some deal to give Neil more air time this year. Poor Tom. Not on at all,” wrote one fan.
“Tom has been robbed!! Toyah was by far the worse dancer!!! Absolute Fix” said a second.
A furious third wrote: “No…wrong wrong wrong…..getting fed up with this show now,think the judges must be being told who to save, Tom should have stayed over Torah 100%”
“WHAT? Toyah went through to next week over Tom?” raged a fourth. “That’s wrong, Toyah was one of the lowest scoring competitors,along with paul merson.
“Judges call themselves experts, they must either been blindfolded/paid off or told by bbc to put Toyah through.”
Sunday’s Results Show also featured a routine from the judges and professional dancers to When Doves Cry by Prince.
The remaining 14 couples will take to the dancefloor next week in a spectacular Movie Week Special when Strictly Come Dancing returns.
The vote off may not come as a surprise to some as late last night the results were leaked online by a notorious mole.
The Sun chose not to reveal the celebrity who was booted off, but fans were stunned that the Olympian was given the boot.
One viewer fumed: “How can they save who they saved, seriously?!”
A second retweeted the spoiler results on their X account and wrote: “Give over… This makes me so sad.”
A third posted: “Sorry but what that Strictly spoiler,” followed by sad emojis.
This person shared: “Me reading the #StrictlySpoiler and finding out who was eliminated. Kinda Shocked.”
While another added: “People who post spoilers of competitive TV shows #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing are genuinely the worst
Like why???”
Yesterday, Tasha Ghouri and her pro partner Aljaz Škorjanec topped the leaderboard with a solid score of 65 – as last week’s scores were added to last night’s.
Tasha’s dad was left in floods of tears as the pair broke the record for the highest scoring week two Viennese Waltz in Strictly’s history.
Meanwhile, there was a highly emotional moment for actor and singer Shayne Ward, who bravely addressed the ‘difficult week’ he’d had.
Shayne found himself falling victim to cruel trolls following his debut on the dance floor with Nancy Xu last week.
He admitted: “It’s been a very tough week. I just focus on the people that love me, that’s all that matters.”
As is tradition, the first week scores are rolled over and combined into the second week. Here’s how the leaderboard now looks after the combined scores
