TV presenter Susannah Constantine was the first celebrity eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday.
The television personality, 56 and her partner Anton Du Beke were voted out by all four of the judges, after competing in a dance-off against boy band star Lee Ryan and his partner Nadiya Bychkova.
Gracious in defeat however, Susannah told the judges that they ‘made the right choice,’ and gushed to host Tess Daly that she felt ‘so lucky’ and ‘privileged’ to have taken part in the BBC show.
When asked by Tess about her time on the show, Susannah 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 thank you (judges) you’ve made the right choice you guys, Lee and Nadiya were brilliant but Anton is still the king!’
Susannah’s partner, professional dancer Anton admitted: ‘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.’
Having landed at the bottom of the leader board last week, Susannah Constantine and Anton Du Beke hoped to work on their moves.
Their Foxtrot to ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ by Frank Sinatra only secured a one from Craig and fours from the other judges on Saturday night.
The judges’ scores this week were added to those from last week, and were then combined with the results of the viewers’ votes to decide the lowest scoring two couples facing the dance off.
During the results show on Sunday night, Blue star Lee Ryan was the first to be told he would be taking part in the dance-off.
He appeared to be shocked as the news was announced, as was Bruno, who let out an audible gasp and praised Lee’s Saturday night performance.
A short while later, Susannah Constantine was revealed as the second celebrity in the bottom two, and both couples performed their routines once again, going head to head in a bid to save their place on Strictly.
Susannah and her partner Anton Du Beke danced their Foxtrot, while Lee and his dance partner Nadiya Bychkova performed their Jive to ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ by Elvis Presley, in a bid to impress the judges and remain in the competition.
After both couples had performed their dance-off routines, the judges delivered their verdicts, with Craig Revel Horwood kicking things off by chosing to save Lee and Nadiya.
He said: ‘For me it’s a no brainer and the couple I would like to save is Lee and Nadiya.’
Darcey Bussell chose to save Lee and Nadiya, admitting: ‘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.’
Bruno Tonioli also chose to save Lee and Nadiya, saying: ‘It’s obvious I have to save the overall better couple, and to my eyes Lee and Nadiya were the winners.’
