Who left Strictly 2023? Fourth celebrity to be voted out revealed

Layton Williams and his professional partner Nikita Kuzmin managed a near-perfect score of 39 for their salsa to Quimbara by Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz to put the top of the Strictly leaderboard for the second week on the bounce, while Ellie Leach and Angela Rippon were among the others to wow the judges.

But unfortunately we had to say goodbye to another contestant and after the judges scores had been combined with the votes from viewers at home, Eddie Kadi and Zara McDermott found themselves in the dreaded dance off – each for the second time.

After taking to the dance floor to perform their routines again, it was ultimately Eddie Kadi and his professional dance partner Karen Hauer who were eliminated, with the judges unanimous in their verdict.

Craig Revel Horwood was the first judge to announce he was saving Zara and Graziano Di Prima, explaining that "the quality of dance in this couple was far superior."

Although Motsi Mabuse eventually concurred with Craig's call, she said "the quality was actually very, very close" but added that "it came down to details" and that she would therefore be saving Zara.

Describing it as an "excellent dance off", Anton added a third vote for Zara and said that although both couples danced well she had displayed "a slightly cleaner technique."

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Those three votes meant that Shirley Ballas's vote made no difference to the elimination, but the head judge agreed that she would also have decided to save Zara and Graziano.

Speaking after the verdict had been delivered, Eddie said: "I’ve really enjoyed this, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do – I love dancing. This has been the highest moment of my career – it’s the happiest I’ve ever been, but not just for me – my family - my little baby girl is at home doing the Men in Black dance."
He added: "More importantly, this little African boy, I just wanted my culture to shine. Everything I stand for, when it comes to my comedy when it comes to my presenting, is based on my culture, is based on my upbringing and I wanted that to shine most importantly."

Meanwhile, Karen told Eddie: "You are a treasure, I’m going to miss you– well I’ll see you tomorrow! We’re going to take up Congolese dancing.

"I just want to thank you so much for being so positive and bringing such light and smiling, just a beauty to all of us, I want to thank you so much."

The remaining eleven couples in the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up will take to the dance floor next week for the Halloween week – so we can probably look forward to some spooky routines!

Strictly Come Dancing returns with Hallowe'en week on Saturday 28th of October at 6.40pm, with the results show on Sunday 29th October at 7:20pm on BBC One.

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