Strictly judge Shirley Ballas was in tears and needed ‘consoling’ after controversial elimination

Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has said was ‘in tears’ over the shock elimination of Lewis Cope from the BBC competition during the quarter final.

Considered a front-runner and favourite, the Emmerdale star and his professional partner Katya Jones ended up in the bottom two alongside Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin – who came top of the leaderboard – during Sunday night’s Musicals Week results show.

Their salsa, which they performed to Dance at the Gym from West Side Story, received 35 points from the judges, placing them in joint second place with George Clarke and Alexis Warr and Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon.

But it sadly wasn’t enough to secure them a spot in the semi-final, with Shirely and fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse opting to save Amber and Nikita instead after they faced each other in the dreaded dance-off.

But Shirley has now revealed the impact such a tough call had on her, with all the judges reduced to tears.

Answering a question from a fan about if it was the hardest dance off to decide of the series so far, Shirley revealed: ‘I was crying, Motsi was crying, we went upstairs – both the boys also. To see two such fantastic dancers in the bottom two was heart wrenching. Normally I can do it but for some reason last week it was quite difficult.’

Talking to host Fleur East on companion show It Takes Two on Friday night she added: ‘And lots of tears with Motsi and I, we were consoling each other.’

The 65-year-old former Latin champion also revealed the result had kept her up at night too.

When asked by Fleur if she was excited, with the semi-final less than 24 hours away, Shirely responded: ‘Well I didn’t sleep yesterday, I didn’t sleep when Lewis got eliminated. I probably won’t sleep tonight because everything is… you never know where the show is going to go now at the moment, it’s not set, it could be anyone who goes home and anyone who can win.’

Fans had been stunned to see Lewis, 30, and 36-year-old Katya sent home, and Lewis admitted himself that it would take ‘time to get over’ his painful surprise elimination.

Katya also broke down in tears on It Takes Two on Monday after seemingly blaming herself for their premature exit.

‘Looking back, I can’t help but to think oh maybe I could have done things differently to make it work for him better…’

Lewis then insisted that she ‘did everything perfect’ before Katya continued: ‘But he can only do what I asked him to do, and whatever I asked him to do, he didn’t do just this time but every single day.

Of their strong performances – the couple topped the leaderboard twice – Katya added: ‘And we were in a tough position. I feel like we were expected to deliver these almost perfect showstopping routines every single Saturday – which you did! I don’t know how, but you did.’

The soap star’s departure has left some fans raging, with El on X writing: ‘Lewis and Katya, you take the spot of the most robbed couple in the history of this show.’

Kellie also despaired, posting: ‘The thought of losing lewis and katya before seeing their argentine tango, american smooth and showdance is making me nauseous and ill.’

Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC One next Saturday at 6.35pm.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.