Dan Walker addresses Strictly criticism and calls for him to leave show
The BBC Breakfast presenter has survived another week without facing the dreaded dance-off.
Dan Walker has survived yet another week on Strictly Come Dancing – making it through to the quarter-finals along with his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova.
The BBC Breakfast presenter has regularly finished towards the bottom end of the judges' leaderboard in recent weeks but is yet to appear in the dreaded dance-off, having been saved by votes from viewers at home.
And following last night's result, Walker took to Twitter to speak out against some fans who have criticised his continued presence in the ballroom contest.
"Thank you to everyone who is sending lovely messages & enjoying us having fun on #Strictly," he said.
"And to the few who say… 'Just leave', 'Aren’t you ashamed?', 'You’re a disgrace', 'It’s a fix' (which I don’t get) or 'Who is voting for them?', IT’S A TV SHOW! See you in the 1/4 finals."
Last week, former Strictly professional Ian Waite defended Dan in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, saying that he was "not surprised people are voting”.
"Dan’s not a dancer. He’s never danced before," he said. "He is one of the celebs who has come into this with no experience whatsoever and I think that’s what people love because he’s giving it a go.
“No, he’s not the most natural dancer obviously, because he’s never had any experience of doing it, but he’s improving week on week.”
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He added: "You can see the enjoyment in his face, and I’m not surprised people are voting for him because they can empathise that he hasn’t had any experience before and they can see improvement week on week.”
Dan and Nadiya scored 31 points for their Rumba to Desperado by Eagles on Saturday night, a point more than eliminated contestant Tilly Ramsay but four less than Rhys Stephenson, who was in the dance-off for the second consecutive week.
There are now just five celebrities remaining in the competition, with Dan and Rhys joined by former Bake Off winner John Whaite, TV presenter AJ Odudu and EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One on Saturday, 4th December. Want something else to watch? Check out our full TV Guide or visit our Entertainment hub for the latest news.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
