Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Dan Walker has labelled the shock elimination of Olympic swimmer Tom Dean as "a bit messed up". Dancer Nadiya Bychkova has also broken her silence on the situation while Neil Jones has hit back at “fix” claims after he and Toyah Willcox survived the dreaded BBC dance-off.
24-year-old Tom and his professional partner Nadiya, 35, became the first casualty of this season’s Strictly Come Dancing after failing to win over Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse with their Cha Cha. Despite initially scoring significantly higher than Toya, 66, and 42-year-old Neil’s Jive to ‘Nutbush City Limits’ by Ike & Tina Turner, the pair were sent packing.
47-year-old Dan - who placed fifth on Strictly with Nadiya in 2021 - expressed his confusion over the elimination on Instagram, stating: "@tomdean00's departure will go down as one of THE early shocks. Lovely bloke who really could have become a great dancer.”
He continued to write to his 306,000 followers: “He looked like he was loving every second of it and @nadiyabychkova looked like she loved teaching him." He added that he couldn't understand how Tom lost the dance-off, given their high score of 46 compared to Toyah and Neil's 30.
Nadiya also expressed her disappointment at their early exit, saying she believed Tom would have "had a brilliant Strictly story. Tom had so much to give and I had so much I wanted to teach him,” the Ukrainian performer typed to her 194,000 social media followers.
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“His improvement in the last 2 weeks has been incredible and I think, actually I know, he could have become a brilliant dancer I'm devastated that you won't get to see that."
"My 3-time Olympic Champion was an amazing student and is a wonderful gentleman. He will go on to bigger and better things and I know this year he could have had a brilliant Strictly story."
"I love this show and I want to wish the other couples all the best and I'm sure it's going to be a great series,” she added. "Thank you for your kindness."
Tom himself admitted taking part in series 22 of the reality TV show had been a “whirlwind” and that he was “so gutted” it was already over.
"The journey may have ended a little earlier than I hoped and of course I am so gutted, but I'm so grateful for all the amazing people I met, people I'll be cheering on throughout and who I know will continue to smash it,” he commented to his own 64,100 Instagram followers.
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Following Tom and Nadiya’s exit, fans were quick to proclaim the competition as a “fix”—prompting Neil to break his silence on the situation.
After he and the ‘Echo Beach’ singer were cast as the dance-off winners, he took to social media to defend their place in the competition.
“Ladies and Gentlemen when you ask me how my Saturday night went,” Neil wrote, followed by a tongue-sticking out, disco ball and a hand emoji.
“I just want to say it’s week 2 @toyahofficial is not a dancer but every day she’s improving, each day I tell Toyah, it might not be perfect but you are improving and at the same time you are not losing who you really are and that is what @bbcstrictly is all about.
“You bring so much joy in our lives and I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to teach and guide you so we can both entertain,” he gushed to his 263,000-strong audience.
Toyah and Neil will return to Strictly Come Dancing to perform live again this Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6.25pm.
