A fifth celebrity has had to say goodbye to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom.
Fans were wowed by the Halloween edition of Strictly on Saturday night, and while fans were outraged by the ‘obvious mistake’ in Sarah and Vito’s dance, the duo were not in the dance-off.
After Paul Merson followed DIY SOS star Nick Knowles, Toyah Willcox and Olympian Tom Dean in being eliminated from the competition, Dr Punam is the latest celebrity to leave.
Dr Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez, 34, have left the competition following a dance-off against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu during the fifth results show of the series.
Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke all chose to save Shayne and Nancy which meant that the results were clear without Head Judge Shirley Ballas voting.
That said, Shirley did later confirm she too would have decided to save Shayne and Nancy.
Punam thanked the judges for her time on the show, saying she was glad she pushed herself to appear in the competition.
‘I am really proud of myself. You know I’ve taken on something that’s so out of my comfort zone. The one thing that I’ve very much learnt is to say yes more, and that there is no point in your life when you can stop learning new skills.
‘I’ve learnt more than dancing, I’ve learnt so much from Gorka. Everyone’s been so incredible and it’s just memories that I’ll take home forever and I am very proud. I’ve made my family very proud, I’m just really grateful.’
She revealed that her family are incredibly proud of her: ‘My kids are so proud, my parents, my husband, everyone. This is just one of those things that I have dreamt about for years and I think to have one of your dreams genuinely come true is just a surreal feeling.
‘Week after week it’s been incredible, I’ve made friends for life and everyone’s just been so kind, so thank you.’
Gorka also commented that he was honoured to represent the doctor’s culture in the series.
‘It’s been incredible, it’s been a fantastic six weeks. I’m very proud of what she has achieved. She’s a GP and a Mum. She had never danced before and I think she improved week by week. I think she is truly what the show is about, someone who doesn’t have experience in the performance world came here and learnt to dance. She wanted to do so well and worked so hard.
‘Also I feel very proud and very honoured that we got to do a Bollywood dance, to represent your culture, show your culture to the world and open doors for so many people in your culture.’
The doctor added that she is going to keep dancing even after the show: ‘Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for giving me the gift of dancing.
‘I’ve never danced before, but you’ve definitely sparked so much dancing. I want to learn more, and I definitely don’t think this will be the end of my journey dancing.’
Viewers were gutted to see Dr Punam go, with @RyanTheSoapking writing on X: ‘I loved Punam she was exactly what SCD is all about. She put her best foot forward every week. She broke history by bringing Bollywood to SCD for the very first time. Well done Punam. She was brilliant.’
‘Arguably the right decision, but Punam seems utterly lovely and a very classy woman. I bet she’s a very kind and compassionate GP,’ @minisheldini said.
@rish_0 wrote: ‘such a shame – punam seems like such a genuinely lovely person.’
@norparjohnnie said: ‘Fair result, but sad to see Punam go. The Bollywood couple’s choice was an iconic dance.’
‘Absolutely gutted for Punam, even more gutted for Gorka,’ @lucymaygoodwin said.
‘So gutted that Dr Punam and Gorka have left. They had a lovely bond/Dance partnership. She is such a lovely person, so warm, so upbeat, she worked so hard, gave it everything in the show and it is no surprise why she was so well liked. I’ll miss them,’ @man18united added.
Amy Dowden was notably absent from the results show as it was reported she as rushed to hospital soon after her performance.
While it’s unclear why the professional dancer was taken to hospital, but it’s hoped that she will be well enough to return next week.
The remaining ten couples will take to the dancefloor next week for the brand-new icons-themed week when Strictly returns on November 2.
Strictly Come Dancing is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and the next episode will air on BBC One on Saturday, November 2.
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