Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystal became the fifth couple to leave Strictly Come Dancing after the show's first-ever triple dance-off, a change that drew criticism from fans.
In week six of the BBC One dance contest, the three couples with the lowest combined judges' scores and public votes were required to dance again before the judges voted on which couple to eliminate, instead of the usual two-couple dance-off.
The Emmerdale star and his professional partner were eliminated following Saturday night's (October 31) annual Halloween special, after scoring 26 for a tango to Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.
Triple Dance-Off Change Sparks Backlash
Lawrence and Jowita finished just above Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita, and Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley, after those two couples landed joint bottom of the leaderboard. They then faced Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, and Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu in Sunday's (November 1) results show.
Since the Manchester Evening News shared an update on Lawrence's exit, more than a thousand people have commented on Facebook, with many defending the soap star while others argued his elimination was the right call.
One commenter said: "He was at a disadvantage from the word go with the considerable height difference between him and Jowita. The 3 couple dance off was the nail in the coffin for him." Another argued: "A sly way of voting off Lawrence, having 3 in the dance-off, and saving the other two who had previously been in dance-offs. Without Lawrence one of those two would have gone!"
Fans React to Elimination
A third shared: "I'd like to see what the public voting figures were, as soon as I heard Lawrence was in the 3 for the dance of I knew at that point it would be Lawrence Robb... Shocking decision by judges...."
A fan also noted: "He kept smiling but his heart breaking was obvious. I think he knew he was in the firing line and it made him nervous. Such a wonderful person..." while another complained: "I thought having 3 in the dance-off was ridiculous. I felt as sorry for the other 2 as I did for Lawrence, it just didn’t work and ruined what was a great Halloween show."
However, another commenter posted: "He made a mistake and that is why he had to go. In the dance-offs, it has to be perfect. Yes, it’s a shame but that is the ruling. I’d have preferred any of the other two couples to go but hey ho." One also added: "It doesn’t matter if he’s never been in the dance off before, the other two are by far the better dancers. Don’t know why Jamie keeps being in the dance off."
