Emmerdale star Lawrence Robb was left fighting back tears as he discussed his Strictly Come Dancing exit on the spin-off show It Takes Two. The 34-year-old actor and his professional partner Jowita Przystał, also 34, were eliminated in the first-ever triple dance-off on Sunday night, despite not being at the bottom of the judges' leaderboard.
The duo were sent home after judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood cast their votes. Speaking on It Takes Two, host Ellie Taylor, 42, asked him: "Lawrence, I can see you getting emotional now. What has meant the most to you?"
Emotional Tribute to Partner and Journey
Looking at Jowita, he said: "I think number one is meeting an incredible person, and this girl here. The sense of family, the love and the joy that it brings every week, the people, and the journey."
He added: "The idea of not knowing how to do any ballroom and Latin dancing at all, and then learning it in, what, three and a half days, and then performing it to millions of people is just, it's just wild."
He continued: "And also, I think that this should apply to any of the couples still in it, and past couples as well. That doing Strictly is… Well, you've already won. You've got the achievement of doing Strictly. You've been on Strictly, and then anything on top of that is, you know, icing cherry on top of the cake."
Fans React to Controversial Exit
Robb, known for playing Mackenzie Boyd, lost out to Jaime Winstone and Bethany Antonia, the other two couples in the bottom three, after head judge Shirley complained of "glitches" in his performance. The pairing performed a Tango to Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr, which placed him seventh on the judges' leaderboard.
Some fans criticised the addition of a three-couple dance-off for his departure. One wrote: "I knew it as soon as I saw that stupid twist that Lawrence was gonna be eliminated this week, it honestly feels like it was all planned to get rid of him."
Another said: "Just totally put off watching strictly, 3 way dance off is ridiculous. And Lawrence who has been eliminated was making progress which is what it's about." A third posted: "Fixed. 2 couples have consistently been in dance off. Clearly producers didn't want them to go. So fixed it. Had 3 in the dance off."
