Charles Venn has become the latest celebrity to be voted off ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The ‘Casualty’ actor narrowly missed out on a place in next week’s semi-final after landing in the dance-off alongside Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts.
It was the fourth time Charles and partner Karen Clifton had found themselves in the bottom two, and came after they finished join-bottom of the leaderboard on Saturday’s Musicals special, despite still scoring 35 points.
Charles and Karen performed their Rumba to ‘Maria’ from ‘West Side Story’ in the hope of impressing the judges, while Ashley and partner Pasha Kovalev danced their Quickstep to ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ from ‘Funny Girl’ once again.
It was then down to the panel to decide who to save, with Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Bruno Tonioli and Shirley Ballas unanimously deciding to keep Ashley in the competition, sending Charles home in the process.
After the result was revealed, Charles told host Tess Daly: “I have to pay extreme homage to this woman here because Karen Clifton turned me into a promising dancer. A promising dancer honestly! This woman has been by my side and supported me, she’s been strict, she’s been solid, she’s been caring and loving, sensitive, intuitive, and I’m adamant that without her I don’t know how I would have got to this level.
“I am so thankful and appreciative of this opportunity. I’ve learnt so much about myself. I now know I can do a bit of ballroom and Salsa. I’m so thankful.”
Karen added: “Oh Charles, I can only say that you have been the most humble, the most professional person who I’ve ever worked with. And thank you for always respecting me as a woman, as a friend and as a teacher, and I will never forget this journey that we had together.”
The remaining five couples will compete in next Saturday’s semi-final in the hope of securing a place in the grand finale.
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ continues on Saturday at 6.35pm on BBC One.
