'Strictly Come Dancing': Who's the latest celebrity to leave the contest?

Strictly Come Dancing's latest couple to be voted out of the competition is Ugo Monye and Oti Mabuse.

Mabuse had won the last two series of the BBC One dance contest, but will not be making it a hat trick this year as all four judges chose to save Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu in the dance off.

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Viewers were surprised to see CBBC presenter Stephenson in the bottom two after some strong performances in previous weeks and finishing mid-table this weekend on the leaderboard.

One viewer tweeted: "How is Rhys in the dance-off? He's great! In a different season he'd be the clear front runner, but unfortunately I think he's been overshadowed by some amazing couples this year. Shame."

Someone else added: "I love watching Rhys and Nancy dance. Really baffled how they ended up in the dance off."

Another viewer wrote: "Poor Rhys. He looks visibly and understandably upset. He doesn’t deserve to be in that dance off. And he knows that too."

Former rugby player Monye had just returned to the ballroom after a week off recovering from an old back injury, but the judges deemed Stephenson and Xu's American Smooth better than his and Mabuse's Rumba.

Craig Revel Horwood, who had criticised Monye's lack of musicality in Saturday's live show, said: "I just want to say I have the greatest respect for every celebrity who is brave enough to come on this show and bare their heart and soul to the nation, it takes guts. But, the couple I’d like to save is Rhys and Nancy."

Talking about his time on the show, Monye said: "There’s lots of people that I would love to say thank you to. Oti, firstly, just for putting up with me. She said she wanted a challenge and she got one! To everyone else that’s in the competition, it’s truly incredible and I wish you all the very best of luck.

"To the judges – Craig – I think it’s really important to say that if you’re willing to accept the positive comments, you have to accept the criticism as well so thank you for all of your comments."

Last year, Mabuse won the contest with comedian Bill Bailey and the previous year, she was the series champion with stand-in contestant Kelvin Fletcher.

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She hinted earlier in the year that this may be her last year on Strictly, telling The Telegraph: "I love to dance and love bringing joy to so many people, but I think [the 2021 series] will be the last."

However, she seemed to have a change of heart as she later told Metro: "I don’t know why I said that but I will take it a season at a time. I don’t know what came over me."

Watch: Who is Strictly's Ugo Monye?