Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jaime Winstone struggled to hold back tears while reflecting on her “horrific” time in the first dance off of the series.
Despite sitting in the middle of the leaderboard after receiving respective scores of 21 for her week one tango and week two cha cha cha, the Love, Rosie star and partner Carlos Gu found themselves in the BBC series’ first dance off of 2026 on Sunday (4 October).
The pair competed against celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton and his pro partner Amy Dowden, with the judges unanimously voting to save Winstone and Gu.
Appearing on Strictly’s companion show It Takes Two on Tuesday (6 October), Winstone, 41, said that she’d found “personal growth” in improving her Pretty Woman-inspired Movie Week dance in the bottom two.
“It is a horrific feeling being up there,” she then admitted, with reigning Strictly champion Gu adding that his “heart was broken” as he hadn’t been in a dance off for three years – having won last year’s series with Karen Carney after being without a celebrity partner in 2024.
“I was nervous, yes, but I was much more heartbroken for [Winstone],” he explained. “You only become stronger because you have been through those challenging positions.”
Winstone grew visibly tearful while listening to the Chinese dancer speak, with host Ellie Taylor saying: “You look so emotional about it, Jaime.”
“It has been really emotional, this past 24 hours,” replied Winstone, who is the daughter of actor Ray Winstone. “It is at such a fast pace, and I am not used to being so vulnerable on camera… You do go back to that child in school going, ‘I don’t fit in,’ and actually some of your greatest things about you are what make you stand out.
“Yes, a lot of insecurities happened yesterday. But you know what? It is not how you fall, it’s how you get yourself up again.”
While Winstone and Gu will dance again, it was curtains for Appleton and Dowden, with the latter admitting she was “gutted” to be the first dancer eliminated from the competition for the second year in a row during their It Takes Two exit interview on Monday.
“From the first day to dancing on Saturday night, [Appleton] grew and grew and grew [in confidence] and I’m just gutted that we didn’t get the chance to continue,” she said. “I honestly think there was so much more to come.”
Dowden rejoined the Strictly line-up in 2024, after stepping away from the show in 2022 following a breast cancer diagnosis. She was forced to withdraw mid-series, however, due to a stress fracture in her foot.
Last year, she was partnered with The Apprentice star and controversy magnet Tom Skinner, who was the first celebrity to be voted out of the competition.
Strictly returns Saturday 10 October at 6.15pm on BBC One.
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