Strictly Come Dancing fans were left fuming after Lewis Cope and Katya Jones were unexpectedly eliminated from the BBC series. The pair's West Side Story salsa failed to impress judges or the voting public, marking one of the biggest upsets in the show's history.
Many viewers believe the writing was on the wall, with audiences turning away from polished performers like Cope, who appeared in Billy Elliot the Musical as a child, towards contestants with a compelling 'journey'. One fan posted: 'Some of us want to see people on a journey still... to see people improve each week.' Another added: 'It shows that not always the best dancers prove popular... those with more experience are not always followed.'
Cope, an Emmerdale star, has long defended himself against claims he was a professional dancer. He told OK! magazine: 'It's strange to hear that I'm some kind of professional dancer. It's been so long since I danced, and I never trained professionally.' He described the label as an 'insult' to the show's pro dancers, noting he hadn't been inside a dance studio for 12 years before joining Strictly.
Despite topping the leaderboard on Halloween Week with a perfect 40, the public vote ultimately sealed Cope and Jones's fate. A third fan pointed out: 'Is everybody forgetting it's the public vote that puts people in the bottom two? There's always an element of a popularity contest in Strictly.'
