Susannah Constantine has become the first celebrity to leave ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 56-year-old fashion advisor – who was partnered with Anton du Beke for the competition – was given the boot in tonight’s (30.09.18) episode after she failed to impress judges with her Foxtrot to Frank Sinatra’s ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ during the dreaded dance off against Lee Ryan and his partner Nadiya Bychkova.
The judging panel – made up of Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Bruno Tonioli and Shirley Ballas – were unanimous in their decision as they all opted to save the "overall better couple" Lee and Nadiya.
Craig – who is known for his acid tongue and his low scores – said: "For me it’s a no brainer and the couple I would like to save is Lee and Nadiya."
Bruno followed suit and added: "It’s obvious I have to save the overall better couple, and to my eyes Lee and Nadiya were the winners."
While Darcey attempted to soften the blow by telling Susannah that she had made a "great improvement" from the last week – which saw no one leave as the judges’ scores were added to this week – but Lee was "stronger."
She explained: "I have to say that both couples made a great improvement tonight, thank you. But the couple I would like to save on a more rounded, stronger performance is Lee and Nadiya."
And, although she’s devastated to be leaving the competition so early, Susannah – who had battled with joint pain throughout training – feels so "lucky" to be given the opportunity to learn ballroom and latin.
She said: "I know it has gone a bit quick, but you know what I just feel so lucky to have had three weeks learning to dance with Anton and to have met all these amazing people. And for me they are the most important and I feel really privileged to have met them all, and it has been amazing. And thank you (judges) you’ve made the right choice you guys, Lee and Nadiya were brilliant but Anton is still the king!"
And Anton added: "It’s just all too brief, I have had the most fabulous time with Susannah, she is going to be a great loss to the show. Sadly someone’s got to go but I wish it wasn’t you because you’re wonderful to be with. I’m going to miss spending time with you in the studio, we’ve had a great time, we’ve had enormous amounts of fun and you’re wonderful and thank you very much indeed."
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ returns to screens next weekend on BBC One at 6:30pm.
Susannah Constantine is axed from Strictly Come Dancing
