“I’m gonna keep pushing to put on the best show possible for you all.”

By James Hibbs

Published: Monday, 20 November 2023 at 14:21 PM


After sailing through to week 10 on Strictly Come Dancing, and becoming one of the final six celebrities in the competition, Layton Williams has thanked fans for their votes, saying he thought he’s be “fighting” to stay in each week.

Williams’s latest performance saw him take to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom dancefloor with partner Nikita Kuzmin to perform a Couple’s Choice dance to Ain’t No Other Man by Christina Aguilera, for which he got 39 points from the judges.

Posting on Twitter, which has recently been rebranded as X, after the results show, Williams said: “Cannot thank you lot enough for actually picking up the phone and voting for me and Nikita. Honestly, I thought I’d be fighting for my life every single weekend so I’m beyond grateful to our supporters.

“I’m gonna keep pushing to put on the best show possible for you all.

Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin on Strictly Come Dancing in black outfits, mid-dance
Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin on Strictly Come Dancing.
BBC/Guy Levy

This was the second week in a row that Williams and Kuzmin scored 39 points, with Craig giving a nine each time, stopping them from getting that perfect 40.

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Fans said that they were “beyond annoyed” by Craig’s decision – however, following the pair’s Argentine tango in week 8, which scored 39, former Strictly pro and Argentine tango expert Vincent Simone said Craig’s score was fair.

He said: “I agree with what Craig said, that it was too aggressive. It was very intense.

“I mean, listen, I loved it and I wouldn’t change anything. I think it was perfect for them at the moment to do it that way. But it’s not supposed to be stiff upper body parts, you know? Being stiff and hard and sharp and so on. It still needs to be kind of soft.

“It can have the intensity, but it still needs to be more towards each other. Be more soft and be more into each other. So it was too stiff and too hard for being a tango. There was too much attack, like Craig said, so I totally agree with him.”