It's not all glitz, glamour and high energy routines on Strictly Come Dancing as tonight's (Saturday 23rd November) episode proved.

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As well as all the usual great performances, Week 10 featured an especially emotional moment between professional dancer Dianne Buswell and her parents Mark and Rina, who had flown from Australia to watch their daughter perform on the show for the first time in years.

In the pre-dance feature, we saw how Dianne and Chris McCausland's rehearsals were going for their Paso Doble to El Gato Montes by Manuel Panella.

But the footage also showed Dianne's parents coming to visit the pair and enjoying breakfast all together. While Dianne's father admitted he didn't quite know the differences between the dances, her mother admitted that Dianne "blows us away every single week".

Dianne Buswell, Chris McCausland and her parents Mark and Rina having breakfast and embracing.
Dianne Buswell, Chris McCausland and her parents Mark and Rina. BBC

"To be here for this amazing moment is pretty special," she said, which led to the trio getting teary.

After impressing most of the judges with their routine on the night, Motsi Mabuse offered up her own thoughts about Dianne's tribute to her parents, sharing her own experience of having parents living far away.

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She said: "I think it's such a beautiful gesture, doing this for Dianne, giving Dianne this moment. Because you two are sharing this together and you decided to put her first and I think it's absolutely beautiful.

"I know how it feels when your parents are far away and they can't see you and it's just a different feeling when they're sitting right there.

"I love the intention in that dance, I love the commitment in that dance, I love that you went for it even if in some places it was wrong, but you did it. Some places just felt like they were not certain."

But Shirley Ballas disagreed with Motsi's sentiments that the routine was wrong, describing it as "very sharp" and said she'd never seen some of Dianne's moves on the show before., adding: "You have telepathy between you when you're moving. To me, there wasn't a step out of place, you really synchronised it, you really went together.

"And you, young lady, you deserve your own little Mirrorball trophy so I'm going to buy you one because I think you are fantastic."

Once back with co-host Claudia Winkleman, she revealed to Dianne that her father was "sobbing his heart out" and also shared that the moment made everyone emotional. "It was amazing," Dianne said, while Chris described it as a "pipe dream" to perform for Mark and Rina, having made it this far in the competition.

Dianne previously shared a snap of the four of them embracing on the show to her Instagram, writing: "This year of strictly has been special in so many ways thanks to the wonderful Chris ! this is just the cherry on top. Magic moments that I’ll cherish forever."

Strictly Come Dancing 2024 continues on Saturday 23rd November at 7:05pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Authors

Morgan Cormack
Morgan CormackDrama Writer

Morgan Cormack is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering everything drama-related on TV and streaming. She previously worked at Stylist as an Entertainment Writer. Alongside her past work in content marketing and as a freelancer, she possesses a BA in English Literature.

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