Strictly Come Dancing latest: Pete Wicks leaves viewers in tears as Lauren Oakley replaces Amy Dowden again
Two Couple’s Choice performances and a stunning American Smooth provided three of this week’s most memorable moments
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Your support makes all the difference.Strictly Come Dancing was back on BBC One for week eight, but professional dancer Amy Dowden will not be returning for the remainder of the series.
Dowden, who was partnered with JLS singer JB Gill, was replaced by Lauren Oakley, after the former was rushed to hospital, having fallen ill during a live show. The Welsh dancer, 34, had returned to competing in the BBC show for its 20th anniversary series following cancer treatment.
Dowden clarified that her “insufficiency stress fracture” had “nothing to do with any previous health scares”.
The action-packed episode saw the nine remaining celebrities fighting not just for their place in the compeititon, but to dance in the Blackpool Tower ballroom as next week’s live episode takes place in the iconic venue.
Plenty of the stars upped their game, including Pete Wicks — who landed his highest score yet (and left one of the judges choking back tears) with a Couple’s Choice routine dedicated to his late grandmother.
Earlier this week, the series has been plagued by rumours that fan-favourite Johannes Radebe is set to quit, after several outlets reported that his schedule for 2025 would mean he would be too busy to participate.
He is billed to star in Kinky Boots: The Musical for the first half of the year while he works on a film adaptation of his life story. Radebe hit back at the claims, writing “I’m not going anywhere!” in a post on Instagram.
Last week, Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin were eliminated as they lost out to Radebe and Montell Douglas after placing in the bottom two following a public vote.
This week’s leaderboard
Here’s how things stand:
Strictly 2024 leaderboard: The scores from week eight of the BBC dance competition
Couples scored high across the board at Blackpool Tower with a close contest this week
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