Strictly Come Dancing's Seann Walsh and Katya Jones earned high praise from the judges with a "totally entertaining" Charleston that put them fourth on the leaderboard.

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Performing the penultimate dance on Saturday night's show, the duo scored 28 for their pizzeria-themed Charleston to the song Bills by LunchMoney Lewis.

Throughout the show, the contestants and judges made no mention of the story which has dominated the headlines this week, although Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly earlier opened the live show by acknowledging the controversy.

Walsh was photographed kissing his married pro partner Jones in the street in a picture that was made public on Sunday. The photo led Walsh’s girlfriend Rebecca Humphries to end their relationship.

Following a slow start in weeks one and two with scores of just 18 and 15, Walsh and Jones had climbed the leaderboard with a dramatic week three performance that scored 30 points. This week their Charleston, set in a restaurant Papa Seann's Pizza, earned 28 – with eights from Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli.

Thanking the choreographer Jenny for creating the routine, Jones told Winkleman after the dance: "It was an amazing week, we just worked so hard and I'm so happy."

"Oh my goodness there were some really tricky lifts in there," Darcey Bussell said after the two had performed their dance. "There is just moments where you do become slightly clumsy… there has to be clarity and precision with the steps as well but overall very strong."

Ballas agreed, saying: "That choreography that routine was outstanding, congratulations… the whole routine was just totally entertaining."

"You threw everything at it but the kitchen sink," Tonioli told the couple. "It was so manic, but it was manic in a good way."

Craig Revel Horwood also praised the couple's approach to choreography, saying: "What I love about you, Katya, is you say lets do it – and let’s do more."

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At the top of the leaderboard are Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton, with 33 points, followed by Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev. Vick Hope and Graziano Di Prima tied for third place with Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice.


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Eleanor Bley GriffithsDrama Editor, RadioTimes.com
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