Nikita Kuzmin’s gobsmacked reaction to shock dance off sends Strictly fans wild – as fourth celebrity is axed
NIKITA Kuzmin’s gobsmacked reaction to a shock dance off has sent Strictly fans wild – as the fourth celebrity is axed.
Tonight’s results show saw Paul Merson become the latest celebrity to leave the competition.
He was the second of the two celebrities to be confirmed for the dance off, with JLS singer JB Gill being the first to have the dreaded red light fall on him.
JB had danced a Jive with pro-partner Amy Dowden on Saturday night but found himself in the lower half of the leaderboard after getting a lukewarm reception from the judges.
Strictly viewers appear to have also felt the same way and failed to give him enough votes to be safe straightaway.
But as host Tess Daly called JB’s name, pro dancer Nikita – who is dancing with Sam Quek – was pictured looking completely gobsmacked.
With his eyes wide and jaw hanging wide open, the moment was quickly picked up on by Strictly viewers.
Taking to X – formerly Twitter – one wrote: “nikita’s reaction was so me, what do you mean amy and jb are in the dance off?!”
Another added alongside a grab of Nikita’s face: “Same Nikita, same.”
A third also shared the moment and wrote: “Nikita is all of us.”
Meanwhile a fourth tweeted: “Nikita was all of us. But its #Strictly & JB never had a chance to avoid the dance off. Madness.”
While JB was ultimately saved by the judges, Anton Du Beke pointed out it had been a closer dance off than it should have been, after the singer made numerous mistakes during his Jive.
He said: “It shouldn’t have been this close, not your best night I have to be honest with you.”
He added that if Paul had danced his Samba “cleaner” he would have saved him but unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to keep to the time of the music.
Meanwhile Strictly viewers are convinced there is a new show curse after JB ended up in the dance off.
He had danced first on Saturday night, as had Shayne Ward the previous week, before the X Factor star found himself in the dance off.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.