Strictly star Bethany Antonia reveals how she copes after facing crushing dance-offs

Strictly Come Dancing 2026 has been a turbulent ride for Bethany Antonia and her professional partner, Nancy Xu.

Despite impressing with their dancefloor debut, the pair have gone on to face two dance-offs, firstly during Icons Week against Dame Sarah Storey, which Nancy has now called a ‘wake-up alarm’.

Then, last weekend, the couple received a cruel Halloween trick, as a wickedly controversial twist forced three couples to compete for survival.

This weekend, after previously landing dangerously low on the leaderboard, there was everything to prove, as they returned to ballroom hold and performed a ‘romantic’ foxtrot to Leona Lewis hit Bleeding Love, scoring 30.

But no matter what challenges are thrown her way, the House of the Dragon actress has insisted that neither she nor Nancy pays attention to outside noise, even when betting odds suggest they could be next on the chopping block.

‘We are hilariously offline. It’s painful,’ she laughed in conversation with Metro. ‘But in a really nice way, because it makes the process feel so much more intimate.’

Bethany explained not even the Halloween triple dance-off fazed her, as she and Nancy were simply excited to perform once more.

‘We loved that dance so much, and we had such a good time. We were so locked in on how much fun we had, so having to do it again was just like, “OK!”‘

The 28-year-old said they are, at least for the time being, keeping the experience as ‘inward’ as possible to maintain their Strictly bubble.

‘When we finish, there’ll be plenty of time to go back and read everything, but while we’re in it, it’s just about us in those 90 seconds of a routine, and it feels like something that needs to be cherished and kept close.’

Agreeing, Nancy chimed in: ‘The competition is already very physically challenging, so we are choosing which direction we want to look.

‘Just like coming back from a dance-off, we can choose to also think about the negativity, or we can choose to cherish something beautiful.’

Bethany went on to admit it’s ‘really special’ to dance in a same-sex couple, following in the glittering footsteps of celebrated duos like John Whaite and Johannes Radebe and Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin.

‘Just being here feels like we’ve already won,’ she told us. ‘For me, this is the kind of representation that is so important and makes such a difference, and it’s just being in the space.

‘Being in the space and not necessarily being there loudly is sometimes more effective and useful than making a big song and dance about it – literally – and to me, it feels like this is exactly what I wanted the process to be like.’

Bethany came out as gay in 2024, having said that watching Strictly’s first same-sex pairing, Nicola Adams and Katya Jones, in 2020 helped open conversations within her own family.

‘I am just so happy that we’ve had the chance to tell so many different types of stories as well,’ she explained. ‘It feels really special to have had the opportunity to show all the different kinds of relationships you can have between two women on the dance floor every single week. I’m really, really proud.’

Bethany’s allyship with the LGBTQ+ community has been a huge talking point this season, most notably when she wore a ‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirt to express solidarity with trans people, specifically trans women.

However, fury spread on social media like wildfire when the phrase was edited out of the BBC broadcast, which the corporation later attributed to the ‘standard practice on any entertainment show’ of taking ‘appropriate steps to reduce the inclusion of any overt branding or slogans’.

Viewers called it ‘sad but not surprising’ as they rallied around Bethany, who declared it was ‘so important to [her]’ that, if Strictly ever came calling, she’d dance with another woman.

Enter Nancy, whose praises she could not sing highly enough.

The Chinese pro joined Strictly in 2019 and has been partnered with Rhys Stephenson, Will Mellor, and Shayne Ward. She’s come close to Glitter Ball glory in the semi-final, but never quite made it all the way.

‘There have been so many occasions where she’s shown me a move or an idea, and because I am maybe scared of it or don’t feel like I can do it, my instinct is, “It’s not perfect, so we shouldn’t do it”,’ shared Bethany.

‘And her gentle encouragement to just do it anyway, because it might look bad, but if you do it enough times, maybe it’ll start to look good. To see that in real time has really changed me in a way that I think I’m gonna treasure forever.’

Echoing the compliments, Nancy hailed Bethany’s ‘strength’, particularly when the dance-offs risked knocking her confidence.

‘I have seen so much strength grow from this girl. She’s amazing,’ said Nancy.

‘You see people change after the show, but it’s so rare to see people starting to learn something from themselves and growing during the programme.’

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.