Strictly’s Paul Merson ‘very shocked’ by BBC show’s results

What did you miss?

Strictly’s Paul Merson admitted he was “pretty shocked” to see Shayne Ward at last weekend’s dance after her brilliant performance.

Former X Factor star Ward and his pro partner Nancy Xu finished in the bottom two, despite being fourth on the leaderboard, and faced Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk for their place in the competition. Knowles was eventually eliminated from the BBC lounge show.

Speaking about the It Takes Two spin-off, Merson confessed that until then she thought the “worst dancer” would go every week and hadn’t realized that the best dancers would be in danger.

What, how and why?

The former footballer was on It Takes Two on Wednesday 16th October via video link whilst at home looking after his youngest children whilst his dancer partner Karen Hauer was in the studio with the show’s host Janette Manrara.

He said: “Last week, for me, it kind of showed that the competition is alive because I just felt before, it was the worst dancer you go, the worst dancer you go.

“And I’m not talking about Tom (Dean), but probably me, and Toyah (Willcox) and Nick (Knowles), no disrespect, but you thought, one, two, three, see you later. case.

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“When Shayne was there, to be honest, I think Shayne is amazing. I think Shayne is as good as anyone, so I was really shocked. I thought the tournament – ​​competition – came to life last weekend,” he added.

What else did Paul Merson say on The One Show?

Merson and Hauer had a strong week on Strictly, because although they only scored 23 out of 40, the judges noted that there had been some progress.

The star had previously found himself in the bottom two, so he said receiving good feedback for his Quickstep and avoiding the dreaded dance “gave me confidence”.

He said: “I thought before this show started, I thought it worked like this, when you’re in the bottom two, you’re in the bottom two until you actually get out. So that was a good confidence booster last week.”

Paul Merson said smiling is ‘so hard’

The star also addressed the fact that the judges want to see him smile while he performs. “It’s so difficult, so difficult”, he confessed.

“I’m counting numbers and then I have to smile at the same time as I’m concentrating. I have to take a headache pill after being so concentrated! It’s like sucking on a fig milkshake, it’s hard!”

So far, Olympian Dean, singer Willcox and presenter Knowles have been eliminated from Strictly.

Strictly: It Takes Two airs on BBC Two at 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One at 6.25pm ​​on Saturday.