Third celebrity contestant eliminated from Strictly

Actor Greg Wise is the third celebrity contestant to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing 2021.

Wise and his partner Karen Hauer landed in the dance-off against Judi Love and Graziano Di Prima, who faced their second week dancing to stay in the competition.

But Wise’s samba to Macarena by Los Del Rio was not enough to keep him in the show, with judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all opting to save Love and Di Prima, meaning they received the majority vote to keep them in the competition.

Head judge Shirley Ballas said she would have voted to save Wise and Hauer.

She said: “Well I counted all the mistakes and from what I saw I would have saved Greg and Karen.”

Professional dancer turned judge for this series of Strictly, Du Beke said: “I felt that the nerves got to both of the couples in the dance-off, which is not surprising really, and they both made quite a lot of mistakes, but one couple maintained an element of composure through the dance, and that would be Judi and Graziano.”

Wise, 55, who is best known for his roles in Sense And Sensibility, Johnny English, Cranford and The Crown, is married to actress Dame Emma Thompson, who was in the Strictly audience previously to watch him dance.

He told Strictly host Tess Daly: “I have had an amazing time, I feel unbelievably privileged and thank-you all for having me.”

Hauer said: “It has been a blast, thank-you for the amazing lunches, thanks for the quality of work, and for being an amazing student. I have enjoyed our moments in the classroom, and just having fun with you, I’ve really enjoyed it.”

During Saturday night’s show, Revel Horwood gave Wise and Hauer a score of three for their routine, which saw Wise make a mistake as it got under way.

Revel Horwood said: “It did look like you’d just come out of a double hip replacement operation, very clunky, and especially through the hip circles, technically really quite bad actually… I loved the shirt, I loved the smile.”

Ballas said after Saturday’s performance that Wise was “so entertaining” to watch, but added: “It wasn’t a little mistake in the beginning.”

She told Wise that as it was week four of the competition, “we have to have no mistakes… (it was) not your best dance for me today”.

Speaking to host Claudia Winkleman on Saturday night before the scores were delivered, Wise said nerves had got the better of him.

He said: “I got the fear.”

Their total on Saturday night of 19 put them at the bottom of the leaderboard, with Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies dancing her way to the top after an impressive tango with Strictly professional Aljaz Skorjanec.

When he was unveiled as a contestant this year, Wise said he had agreed to do the show in honour of his sister Clare, who died five years ago.

Rugby player Ugo Monye and his partner Oti Mabuse were absent from the dancefloor this week as the sports star rests a back injury.

Comedian Robert Webb, who had open heart surgery two years ago, voluntarily withdrew from the series due to ill health, saying he was advised by a doctor to quit the show after he had “begun to feel symptoms” while training.

The remaining couples will dance again next Saturday when Strictly returns on BBC One at 7.05pm, with the results show airing on Sunday at 7.10pm.