BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans baffled as one couple escapes dreaded dance-off

One star will leave Strictly Come Dancing this Sunday evening after the 2024 series' first results night - but BBC One viewers were stunned to find out one contestant was safe from elimination.

Presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman were back at the helm of the Strictly Come Dancing results night this Sunday, September 29, 2024, announcing who would have to face a dance-off in the hopes of securing a spot in next week's Movie Week special.

Unfortunately for Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova, the public didn't save them from the dreaded dance-off as they were the first couple to be announced in the challenge and they were up against Toyah Willcox and her own partner Neil Jones.

However, numerous viewers at home were outraged to realise that another couple had managed to avoid the dance-off, despite their performance in ballroom on Saturday.

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Fans of the popular show took to Twitter, now X, as they were astounded to see Paul Merson and Karen Hauer move on to the next stage of the competition. One of them wrote: "#strictly paul was awful last night the worst tbf", while a second echoed: "#strictly wrong Paul's not in the dance off he was terrible as much as hes nice and funny he cant dance!" A third agreed: "Paul is genuinely funny. I can understand why he was saved despite being a bad dancer lol", another fumed: "#Strictly Paul should've been in bottom two and should go. He's the worst by far."

On Saturday, Paul's salsa to Pitbull's Fireball attracted attention from viewers when Craig Revel Horwood commented the dance with a harsh remark. The judge suggested that alcohol had given him confidence, despite Paul being open about his past struggles with addiction.

This prompted the former Arsenal player to quickly retort: " I don't drink." Craig continued: "It was like a comedy dance at a wedding I'm afraid. It was really not good. Those shunts were terrible." One fan took to Twitter to criticise Craig's lack of research on the contestants, calling his remark to Paul Merson unnecessary. Another questioned: "Did Craig really just say he thought the drinks at the barbecue gave Paul Merson confidence. Tactless in the extreme."

Others echoed these sentiments, with one saying: "Oh gosh not really good of Craig to make a drinks joke to Paul Merson." Another added: "Well that was a massive faux pas on Craig's behalf. Clearly doesn't know Paul is an Alcoholic." Yet another chimed in: "Bit of a faux pas to talk about drinks at the barbecue to Paul Merson, someone famously sober after years of excessive drinking." "Craig's comment to Paul Merson was in very poor taste. I hope he gets an apology," another user wrote.

Sunday's results night ended with Tom and Nadiya leaving the competition. When asked by Tess Daly about her and Tom’s time on the show, Nadiya gushed: “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.” The remaining 14 couples will take to the dancefloor next week for the fan favourite Movie Week Special.

On Saturday, Toyah and Neil landed at the bottom of the leaderboard. Despite Anton hailing this week's Jive as '1,000 times better' than their Tango, the pair scored just 30 out of a possible 80 for their combined dances. Former footballer Paul Merson followed close behind with partner Karen Hauer at 32.

At the other end, Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec left the judges and fans speechless with their Viennese Waltz to Rhapsody in Blue, scoring them three nines and one eight and - combined with last week's score - sending them soaring right to the top of the leaderboard with 65 out of 80. Following up closely behind were Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola with an impressive combined score or 62.

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