Nikita Kanda is the second celebrity to leave Strictly Come Dancing 2023
The radio presenter lost out to TV personality Zara McDermott in the dance off.
On Saturday, the Strictly professionals opened ‘Movie Week’ with a magical routine celebrating 100 years of Disney, before the remaining couples took to the floor for a night of performances inspired by films. The judges’ scores were added to the viewers’ votes to determine who would be tasked with impressing the judges one final time – this time it was Nikita Kanda and Zara McDermott.
Both couples performed their routine again. Zara and her dance partner Graziano Di Prima their Pasodoble to The Puss Suite from Puss In Boots; Nikita and her partner Gorka Márquez their Jive to Kids In America from Clueless.
It was then up to the judges who they were going to send home.
Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Zara and Graziano due to their “technique and theatricality”. Motsi Mabuse said that “both couples gave it their best” but noted that Nikita and Gorka’s routine contained “a few mistakes”, thus she was saving Zara and Graziano.
Anton Du Beke also chose to save Zara and Graziano and gave a similar reason to Motsi for the decision. Although her vote had no bearing on the result, head judge Shirley Ballas said she agreed with her fellow judges.
When asked by Tess about their time on the show, Nikita said:
“I don’t want to leave yet, I feel like I’ve let him down. I’ve had the best time and I love all my Strictly family, I’m going to miss you all. This has been a dream come true, I’m so grateful. I’ve got to say the biggest thankyou to Gorka, he has been the biggest support and I’ve had the best time ever.”
Gorka added: “I am beyond proud of her, for someone that doesn’t have any dance experience or performance experience to come on this show and dance in front of millions of people – for three weeks, I think it’s incredible. You should be very proud of yourself, you have never let me down and I am very proud of you.”
Tonight’s Results show also featured the professional dancers taking us on a pinktastic visit to Barbie Land, and Madison Beer performed Showed Me (How I fell In Love With You) in the ballroom.
The remaining thirteen couples will take to the dancefloor next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday 14th October at 6:30pm with the results show on Sunday 15th October at 7:15pm on BBC One.
