Strictly Come Dancing’s Tom Dean has become the first celebrity to wave goodbye to the contest after finding himself in the bottom two.
Even with a respectable score of 23 in the second week, the Olympic swimmer found himself in a dance-off against actress Toyah Wilcox and her partner Neil Jones.
BBC viewers watched as Tom and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova performed their Cha Cha to ‘Boogie Wonderland’ by Earth, Wind & Fire again on the dance floor.
Meanwhile, Toyah and Neil delivered their Jive to ‘Nutbush City Limits’ by Ike and Tina Turner before the judges had to make the tough call on who to send home.
It was not a unanimous decision, as Anton Du Beke stood alone in wanting to keep Tom and Nadiya in the series, reports the Mirror.
While judges Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Toyah and Neil, the final verdict fell to head judge Shirley Ballas.
Ultimately, Shirley concurred with Motsi and Craig, sealing the fate of Tom and ending his journey on Strictly Come Dancing.
In a conversation with presenter Tess Daly, Tom reflected on his stint as he said “I’ve had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible.
“I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer. We’ll still go out for loads of brunches I’m sure.”
Nadiya, the professional dance partner to three-time Olympic champion had nothing but kind words to say about her partner.
She added: “To get to know him, he’s not just a three-time Olympic champion he’s a ‘true’ gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in.
“And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don’t need to win, and that’s how I feel this year.”
Despite Tom’s departure from the competition, anticipation builds as the remaining 14 stars prepare for a Movie Week Special next Saturday.
Leading the charge are Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec with a solid combined score of 65, closely followed by Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola on 62.
Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones, meanwhile, find themselves at the rear of the pack with a combined total of 30.
However, it’s Chris McCausland who has captured the bookies’ attention as the frontrunner to take home the title, his odds standing impressively at 11/44, while Tasha Ghouri is a breath away at 3/1.
Ladbrokes’ Nicola McGeady commented: “Chris McCausland has burst out of the traps as the one to beat, something that has taken us by surprise given he was 20/1 before the opening night.”
Strictly Come Dancing continues next Saturday on BBC One from 6:25pm