Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden became the first pairing to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing 2026 at the weekend. The duo departed following a judges' vote after going head-to-head with actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu in Sunday's (October 4) dance-off.
Chris Appleton's tribute to Amy Dowden
Following his exit, Chris remarked: "I am very grateful for everyone who has been involved. It's been so amazing to be part of something that I grew up watching and got to be a part of it."
"The most important thing I think I will take from this show is having a friend in Amy because I genuinely love her and I am so grateful I met someone who has so much heart and passion. I only wish I could have done better for her because she deserves to go further in the competition, but we did put everything into it."
Body language expert's analysis
Body language expert Judi James, speaking on behalf of Paddy Power Bingo, has shared her analysis of Chris and Amy's Saturday night routine and offered insight into why she believes they became the opening couple to face elimination.
Judi observed: "Chris' biggest disadvantage came with an attribution bias. With his Hollywood tan, teeth and grooming and his 'FOK' tag (Friend of Kardashian) it was possible to assume we were going to get some cheesy arrogance and slick dancing, but instead Chris seems to be a nervous, self-effacing and relatively down-to-earth guy who clearly cherishes Amy as much as she deserves to be cherished."
"Dressing him up as 'Baywatch Ken' was a huge mistake then and his dance routine contained so many signals of performed arrogance that it was hard to remember the guy inside the look until he showed off his nervously trembling hand to Johannes up on the balcony."
Routine signals and the dance-off
She continued: "There was the strutting walk during the routine that came with the ultimate signal of arrogance when he had to rev up the audience's applause like a peacocking rock star."
"He had to unzip his jacket mid-routine to bare his entire twelve-pack chest to the waist and even fan himself a little to suggest he thought he was hot. Strictly audiences like to see sexy outfits but if the displays get too obvious, they can tend to call 'vain' and switch off. It looked saying that, during the dance-off, he wisely opted to keep his six-pack hidden by skipping the unzipping of his jacket."
"The key to the real Chris came when Amy took his trembling hand and scrunched it up to kiss it adoringly and supportive but the damage was already done in terms of popular image, and he was first off, the show, tragically taking Amy with him and perhaps even his 'BF' Kim, who might well have been poised for an appearance, shedding tears of pride via Zoom in the weeks to come."
Leaderboard and next show
Australian pop sensation Delta Goodrem and her professional partner claimed top spot on the leaderboard, closely trailed by dog trainer Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley, as well as EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola. Gavin and Stacey star Melanie Walters and her partner Alijaž Škorjanec found themselves propping up the leaderboard, finishing just below Chris and Amy.
Strictly makes its return to our screens this weekend, when the remaining fourteen couples will once again compete on the dancefloor.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday, October 10 at 6.15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
