The 46-year-old soap star, who\u2019s partnered with pro dancer Julian Caillon<\/a>, scored 28 points out of 40 for her paso doble to \u201cDiablo Rojo\u201d by Rodrigo y Gabriela on Saturday night (18 October). <\/p>\n Judge Motsi Mabuse<\/a> labelled Sopal \u201ca powerhouse\u201d following the performance, however the actor still landed in the bottom two for a second week in a row following a public vote. <\/p>\n Fans of the show shared their frustrations with the result on X\/Twitter. \u201cThis is a joke\u2026 Bal was sensational tonight. how the fudge is she in the bottom two, again?!\u201d one person questioned. <\/p>\n Another viewer added: \u201cI can’t believe Balvinder was in the dance off again, why? I voted for her, but she clearly doesn’t have the public support, which is a great shame.\u201d <\/p>\n Another person said it \u201cfrightens\u201d them that Sopal was placed in the bottom two for two weeks running despite being at the top end of the Strictly leaderboard. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no way Bal is the worst dancer. Maybe a lot of people haven’t warmed to Julian yet hence why she isn’t getting many votes,\u201d they theorised. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon on \u2018Strictly Come Dancing\u2019 (BBC)<\/p>\n However, other fans wondered if Sopal\u2019s morally dubious EastEnders character Suki Panesar could be the reason behind her lack of public support. <\/p>\n \u201cI think too many people confuse Balvinder with the character she acts! Poor woman. Next week it will be Stefan,\u201d one person wrote, while another viewer dubbed the verdict a \u201cshame\u201d. <\/p>\n In the dance-off, Sopal went up against former England rugby union captain Chris Robshaw<\/a> and his partner Nadiya Bychkova, who performed their salsa to \u201cMaria\u201d by Ricky Martin for a second time.<\/p>\n Oti Mabuse opted to save Sopal, while head judge Shirley Ballas and fellow judge Anton Du Beke voted to save Robshaw. However, Craig Revel Horwood, who had this week\u2019s deciding vote, saved Sopal. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Sopal as Suki Panesar on \u2018EastEnders\u2019 (BBC)<\/p>\n Revel Horwood had noted a \u201craised shoulder, messy flow and tuned-in feet\u201d in Sopal\u2019s paso doble but praised the soap star\u2019s \u201cbrilliant arms and hands\u201d.<\/p>\n As Robshaw became the third Strictly contestant to be eliminated from the competition,<\/a> the sports star told host Tess Daly that the show had given him \u201csuch confidence<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n The remaining 12 couples will return to the dance floor for Icons Week on Saturday 25 October, when each celebrity will perform as a musical icon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-212988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Balvinder](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-09-27-at-20-44-50.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Sopal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-14-40-31.png\")
<\/p>\n