Strictly Come Dancing contestant Shaun Wright-Phillips has revealed he became emotional backstage after facing the dreaded dance-off. The former footballer and his professional partner Alexis Warr appeared on the spin-off show It Takes Two to discuss their experience on the results show.
Melanie Walters, best known for her role in Gavin and Stacey, was eliminated from the competition after landing in the bottom two with Shaun. Both couples performed their routines again, and it was Walters and her partner Aljaz Skorjanec who left the show.
Emotional reaction after quick step
Speaking about the judges' comments, Shaun said: "I think that element of the judges giving information brings me back to when I played football. From when I was 13, I've been criticised in football, and sometimes you take it as a criticism, and sometimes you take it as information to get better. That is how I took what the judges said; at the end of the day, they're the professionals, they're seeing it from a different view."
After performing their quick step in the dance-off, Alexis shared: "After he did it, he got emotional. We went backstage, and he started getting all teared up." Shaun explained: "I performed it; she [Alexis] was over the moon about it, so that made me even happier. It honestly felt like I was climbing Mount Everest or something."
Preparing for Icons Week
The pair are now preparing for Icons Week on Saturday night, where they will perform a couple's choice routine to a James Brown medley. Shaun said: "So far, it's going very, very well in terms of steps and stuff like that."
Alexis revealed a new approach to training: "She's trying a different tactic this week in terms of learning everything at once. Instead of trying to do it like a puzzle, I'm doing it all in one so teaching the arms and legs together, start to get more co-ordination into it," before adding: "I know there's co-ordination in you somewhere."
Strictly Come Dancing continues every Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
