Alex Kingston is the eighth celebrity to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing following a dance off against EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal
Actress Alex Kingston became the eighth celebrity to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night’s results show. Alex and her pro partner Johannes Radebe said goodbye to the sparkly show following a tough dance-off against EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal – who survived what was her fifth dance-off to date with her partner, Julian Caillon.
An emotional Alex, who will appear with Johannes on Strictly: It Takes Two on Monday night, admitted to Tess Daly, “I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would last this long. It’s been just the most incredible journey for me.”
She continued, “I feel quite proud of myself because I’ve loved the process, I mean 100%, you can tell by my smile. Everyone always says that their dance partner is a friend for life, but JoJo really will be.”
Johannes also opened up about their special bond, revealing, “I’ve never grinned as much as I have in the last few weeks. Thank you Alex for being a trooper, I will hold on to the memories.”
He added, “As far as the dancing goes, I think we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve. These memories are just the beginning for us, we can say that we are very much a Strictly family.”
Alex, 62, whose high-profile roles both in Britain and across the pond include ER and A Discovery of Witches, performed her Cha Cha again with Johannes to Anita Ward’s Ring My Bell.
This was in a last-ditch effort to stay in the competition, before Balvinder and Julian performed their Jive to Right Back Where We Started From by Maxine Nightingale.
The weekend’s leaderboard was a culmination of last week’s Blackpool Special votes and judges’ scores, as well as extra points from Saturday night’s brand-new Instant Dance challenge.
A maximum of six marks were available for the performance that impressed the judges most.
After both couples had danced, the judges decided to save Balvinder, meaning the couple go on to perform in Strictly’s much-anticipated Musicals Week quarter final next weekend with the other four surviving couples.
It will also see the celebrities and their partners embark on another Strictly first: a new high-stakes dance challenge.
Sunday’s Results show also featured a dramatic Rumba professional group number to Wicked Game by Grace Carter, as well as a dazzling performance of Stay (If You Wanna Dance) by singer Myles Smith.
This was accompanied by well known professional dancers Kai Widdrington and Karen Hauer.
Next weekend’s Musicals Week quarter-final will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6.50pm on Saturday and 7:45pm on Sunday.
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