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Strictly Come Dancing’s semi-final show saw numerous celebrity contestants and their professional partners break down in tears as emotions ran high in the penultimate week of the competition.
Balvinder Sopal’s partner Julian Caillon became emotional following the pair’s Salsa to “Get on Your Feet” by Gloria Estefan after he revealed his mother had flown to London from Australia for the weekend to see him dance, despite having work on Monday morning.
Elsewhere, Karen Carney and Carlos Gu were left weeping after their Waltz to “One Moment in Time” by Whitney Houston, which earned 39 points from the judges and took the pair to the top of the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, former Love Island star Amber Davies was handed a perfect score by the judges for the third week in a row for her Couple’s Choice dance to “Fly Me to the Moon” by Raye, which she dedicated to “any young girl who is ambitious and has a dream” as she remained resilient in the face of public criticism.
Despite being routinely praised for her technique by the judges, the West End performer has been predicted to be the next contestant to be eliminated from the competition. Davies faced the dreaded dance off last week but was saved over Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope to much discontent from fans.
Contrastingly, YouTuber George Clarke, who is in third position on the leaderboard after being awarded 35 points for his Charleston to “We No Speak Americano” by Yolanda Be Cool and 37 points for his Samba to “Volare” by Gipsy Kings, has emerged as the frontrunner to win the competition with 10/11 odds.
The next elimination will be confirmed on Sunday night’s results show, which will also see performances from Australian pop star Kylie Minogue and the Nineties British boy band Five.
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George Clarke and Alexis Warr dance a samba to ‘Volare’ on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC/Guy Levy)
It was announced that Craig Revel-Horwood will have the deciding vote should the judge’s verdict on who should be eliminated be tied.
Here is the leaderboard from the semi-final in full:
Karen and Carlos: 39 (dance one) + 39 (dance two) = 78
Amber and Nikita: 37 (dance one) + 40 (dance two) = 77
George and Alexis: 35 (dance one) + 37 (dance two) = 72
Balvinder and Julian: 35 (dance one) + 35 (dance two) = 70
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The leaderboard from the semi-final of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC)
You can follow all the latest Strictly updates on our live blog here.