Strictly Come Dancing: week eight results – as it happened | Strictly Come Dancing

Thanks for watching along with me, glittery gang. Our excellent eight pairings now progress to the week nine, live from the fabled Tower Ballroom with its Victorian splendour and sprung floor.

The seaside special airs next Saturday at 6.45pm on BBC1. Meet you back here to sort the bright ballroom lights from the dim dance bulbs. In the meantime, it barely needs repeating: keeeeep dancing! Have a lovely week and see you in Blackpool. Goodnight everyone.

Finally, MarkRoche says: “Anton choosing partly to save a couple for a more joyous performance is a bit iffy. The rumba doesn’t signify sunshine, puppies and lollipops. However, I think the right decision was made overall.”

TPTony adds: “Feel sorry for Shayne. Definitely nowhere near the weakest dancer left.”

MikeMoonlight says: “Ouch! That’s got to be the ultimate humiliation for Shayne – finding out that Shirley Ballas, the eternal saviour of hot young male dancers in the dance-off, actually preferred the slightly chunky middle-aged bald guy over him.”

EmmyHarb says: “I think this must be the hardest week to leave the competition and to leave on a split judging panel too must surely make it worse.”

Swalk77 says: “My elderly mother is really offended by Pete, it’s hilarious!”

kalioon adds: “Shirley better avoid Nancy for a while. The look in her eyes. Ooft.”

jm1476 says: “Wynne made more mistakes. Joyful not a criteria for voting someone off.”

Poppieshen adds: “Well, that’s Shayne gone. Oddly I almost warmed to him while he was on screen, while simultaneously forgetting about him when he wasn’t. Maybe that was his problem. Once again thank you Michael for keeping this rickety charabanc on the road to Blackpool and making us laugh.”

Totally my pleasure, Poppie!

A rapidfire vox pop of your comments. Sueserafina says: “Fact is, I’d rather see a Katya routine in Blackpool..”

joe_tambien says: “There’s just no forgiving Shayne for Good Ship Murder, is there?”

1991fab adds: “Wrong decision imo for dance-off,. Viewers were so harsh on Shayne. He shouldn’t have been in the dance off so many times and was one of the strongest male contestants. I don’t understand Shirley’s criticism of most ‘joyful routine’. What has that got to do with the technique and the errors each person made?”

TV viewers can now flip to ITV1 for the return of Midsomer Murders or Channel 4 for Alan Cumming travelogue, All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train.

The night’s big TV event, though, is period masterpiece Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light at 9pm on BBC1.

If you’re in the market for a movie, tonight’s picks are Emma (8pm on BBC3), The Revenant (9pm on Film4) and Deliverance (10pm on BBC2). Cue twanging banjos.

What was going on with the scoring on Saturday? The judges often clamp down immediately before Blackpool, enabling them to get carried away in the Tower Ballroom the following weekend, but last night’s marking was particularly erratic. Shirley’s perfect 10 for Pete was especially eyebrow-raising, not least because she only deemed JB Gill’s far superior samba worthy of a nine.

However, La Ballas wasn’t the only culprit. Anton du Beke’s nine for Wynne was almost as daft. Indeed, half the couples got a two-point spread of scores. Craig Revel Horwood gave out several sevens, while his colleagues kept reaching for their nine and 10 paddles. Sanity needs to be restored as we enter the business end of the contest.

Shayne’s elimination also means the exit of his pro partner. Chinese-born Latin champion and all-round firecracker Nancy Xu has enjoyed another strong series. She’s had a celebrity partner for four series, reaching the semi-final twice – with Rhys Stephenson and Will Mellor. Being first out with Les Dennis last year was her only flop.

Nancy did well to steer Shayne this far, especially considering those three dance-offs. She clearly supported him well during his struggles with trolls and unpopularity. Nancy deserves a strong partner and a good run next year.

He’s the lowest-scoring celebrity left in the contest by far, averaging 25.6 points – nearly five points per dance fewer than the eliminated Shayne Ward. TOWIE alumnus Pete Wicks can therefore thank public support for making it past the contest’s midway mark, let alone all the way to Blackpool.

Dancing a Couple’s Choice came at the right time for Pete. His contemporary routine, dedicated to his late nanna Doreen, was a heartstring-tugger. It didn’t deserve a vastly inflated perfect 10 from Shirley Ballas, who as head judge should have known better, but a score of 36 took Pete to the dizzy heights of joint third on the scoreboard and helped ensure his safety.

As a performance novice who has embraced playing characters, steadily improved and fallen in love with dance, Pete has been on the trademarked Strictly “journey”. He’s committed, trains hard and is smartly drilled by his partner, Polish pro Jowita Przystal, with whom he’s formed the tight “Team Petita”. His dry sense of humour has endeared him to viewers. Barring a miraculous leap in quality, however, he deserves to bow out before the end of November.

The other big sigh of relief should come from Jamie Borthwick. He’s suffered a slump in form over the past two weeks and was joint bottom of last night’s scoreboard alongside Shayne. EastEnders fans must have hit the voting lines but Jamie needs to arrest the decline fast.

The field was beginning to get uncomfortably male-heavy, with six celebrity men outnumbering the three remaining women by two to one. Awkward.

An all-male dance-off at least means that it’s now 5 to 3. Perhaps we’ll have parity after the next two eliminations – just in time for the quarter-final.

Opera singer Wynne Evans can count himself very lucky indeed to be making the tip to Blackpool. He was bookies’ second favourite for elimination this week behind Shayne Ward, scored a mere two points more on Saturday night and squeaked past him in only the second split dance-off decision of the series.

Sure, he has great musicality and nimble feet for a big fella but Wynne’s continuing run in the series is largely down to his dance partner Katya Jones. As arguably the most creative choreographer among the pros, Katya puts together clever routines, works around his abilities and body type, and consistently delivers routines with wow factor.

Wynne once looked an outside bet for the final but the “handgate” controversy has dented his popularity, while his scores have hit a plateau in the early 30s. Katya will need all her tricks to keep him in the contest for more than a couple of weeks.

Very few Strictly celebrities survive a third dance-off. So it proved for Shayne Ward. He’d comfortably seen off Nick Knowles and Dr Punam Krishan over the past month but Wynne Evans provided sterner opposition. Even then, Shayne came within a within a whisker of edging him out in the eliminator.

It’s been a strange contest for the pop star-turned-actor. He looked like a dancer packed with potential and had charisma on the floor yet never quite convinced. His highlights came when playing his music heroes. His Elvis waltz and Beatles quickstep notched his highest scores. Otherwise, he seemed to overthink, tighten up and become hesitant. Having been trolled for perceived cockiness early in the series, he often came across as needy for approval – although he’s clearly a decent chap, as those gracious closing comments demonstrated.

He didn’t connect with voting viewers, hence those three dance-offs. The slow rumba, always technically tricky and exposing for celebrity males, came along at the wrong time. Manchester-born Shayne would have been desperate to reach Blackpool but it wasn’t to be. A case of what might have been.

As the eliminated couple take a final twirl around the dancefloor to the strains of Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House (tune!), the credits roll and their castmates crowd in for cuddles.

Please stay with us for analysis, reaction and a round-up of your comments.

His pro partner Nancy Xu says: “I’m beyond proud of this partnership. From week one, every second you put your feet on the dancefloor you improved yourself. You’re a deep thinker, you always doubt yourself but I never ever questioned you. When I watch you, I feel proud because I’ve turned someone who has never danced in their life into an amazing dancer. You should believe in yourself. I adored this partnership.” Sweetly said, Nance.

In his exit speech, Shayne Ward tells Tess: “You guys up there [meaning his fellow contestants in the Clauditorium] are a dream. Every single day, you helped me so much. I want to say thank you to the audience as well, for always being amazing for us all. This has been, honestly, one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m proud that I made it to eight weeks as a novice dancer.

“A massive thank you also goes to this incredible human right next to me [meaning Nancy], who has put so much fire in me and made me believe that I can achieve more if I let myself go. I’m sorry it didn’t work out to the end but I’m super proud that I got to dance with you.”