Strictly Come Dancing eliminates sixth celebrity after most tense dance-off yet

Strictly Come Dancing 2025 is well and truly heating up now, so the result of the sixth elimination was bound to be shocking.

Alas, for Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, his journey to the Glitter Ball has come to an end.

In perhaps the most tense bottom two of the series, the athlete and his pro partner, Karen Hauer, faced off with Drag Race icon La Voix and her partner, Aljaž Škorjanec.

On Saturday night, there was just one point between them on the leaderboard, as Harry and Karen scored 30 points, while La Voix and Aljaž landed at the bottom with 29, meaning there really was everything to fight for in the dance-off.

Both couples performed their routines again for the judges; La Voix and Aljaž danced their foxtrot to Make Your Own Kind of Music by Cass Elliot before Harry and Karen Hauer performed their samba to Samba by Gloria Estefan.

Once both couples had given it everything and could do no more, the panel delivered a unanimous verdict on who should remain in the contest.

Head Judge Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, and Craig Revel Horwood all chose to save La Voix and Aljaž.

Motsi Mabuse, who this week had the casting vote, added that she, too, would have saved La Voix and Aljaž had she been required to vote.

Taking to social media, fans slammed the decision to send Harry home, with @GrantTheHatter writing: ‘Outrageous decision #strictly #StrictlyComeDancing’

@mr_chambers_ similarly said: ‘Harry blew him [La Voix] off the stage. What a fix!!!!….’

@huggingtrees added: ‘How didnt harry go through. He literally was marked higher than la voix. He was better.’

Reflecting on his time in Strictly, Harry, 37, told host Tess Daly: ‘I think, first things, I just want to thank Karen. Genuinely, you have given me an opportunity to shine. You’ve understood my crazy brain.

He added to his partner, Strictly’s longest-serving pro: ‘I’m such a logical person, trying to dance—and obviously doing what I do—Olympic sprinter, Gladiator—now I’m trying to be a dancer.

‘I just want to thank you so much for the time and effort, the hard work that you’ve given to me.

‘You show up, you turn out.’

The Olympian continued: ‘I want to thank everyone here. Literally, this has been a dream come true. This is a celebration. It’s a celebration.’

Following a tough previous week, which saw Harry and Karen fall to the bottom of the scoreboard with 26 points for their American smooth, the dad to five year old Aubreé-Isla added: ‘I spoke to my daughter, and she didn’t like seeing her dad sad, and when she saw me sad last week, she was like, “Daddy, what’s wrong?”

‘And I wanted to show everyone that, no matter what happens, there’s always a silver lining. But this is an experience for me.

‘So, thank you for this lovely gift, and at the end of the day, we carry on, we give it to them, and we continue to shine. Do you know what I mean?’

When asked by Tess how proud she is of Harry, Karen said: ‘I am extremely proud. We’ve had the best time.

‘You’re such a gentleman, you’re a hard worker, you listen, and you get into those times where I don’t know what you were thinking, but you know what? I loved you in every kind of way because of the person that you are, and it was an honour to teach you, so thank you so much.’

His run in the main show was actually Harry’s second Strictly stint, as he participated in last year’s Christmas special with Nancy Xu as his partner, meaning viewers had high hopes for him this time around.

Reacting to the news of his elimination, fans admitted they were ‘sad’ to see Harry go.

However, many believed it was the ‘right decision’ after lowest scorer La Voix corrected her mistakes and performed stronger in the dance-off.

‘The correct result – I’m sad for the person who left but I feel that there time on the show was up when you consider the standard of the competition at this stage’, wrote @RyanSoapKing25 on X.

‘Thought the judges would have saved Harry! Close between the two score wise though so could have gone either way. Love them both though’, added @drookitquine.

‘Absolutely gutted! I wanted Karen to win it this year, longest serving professional who hasn’t won, been in the final only once as well! Dam dam dam!!’, tweeted a devastated @GlittergalAsh.

Elsewhere in tonight’s results show, there was a musical performance from James Morrison of his tune Fight Another Day, accompanied by a routine from Jowita Przystał and Neil Jones.

The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment also joined the Strictly professionals for a group number to mark Remembrance Sunday, set to the Sam Fender song Remember My Name.

As the competition reaches its tight end and as audiences admit they simply cannot call who will win, the remaining eight couples will take to the dancefloor again next weekend.

They’ll be hoping to make it through to the iconic Blackpool week on November 20, which is undoubtedly a milestone every Strictly contestant wants to accomplish.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6:25pm on Saturday, 15 November, with the results show on Sunday, 16 November, at 7:15pm.

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