Third Strictly Come Dancing contestant eliminated after ‘shock bottom two’

The third couple to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing has been revealed after Icons Week threw a real curveball.

Last night, the remaining 13 couples performed as various kinds and queens of music with some unexpected triumphs, causing, as viewers predicted a ‘shock bottom two’.

And it was Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and her partner Julian Caillon who left the competition following a dance off against Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu.

Each couple performed their Icon Week routine again, with Dame Sarah retrunignto the stage in her Shania Twain-inspired leopard print coat to try and impress wither Tango that Shirley said was ‘unlike anything I’ve ever seen before in my entire life’, while Bethany did their Cha Cha to Aretha Franklin’s Respect for a second time.

After both couples gave it everything they’ve got, judges Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse, and Craig Revel Horwood all unanimously decided to save Bethany and Nancy.

Dame Sarah Storey and her partner Julian CaillonHead judge Shirley Ballas – who this week was the judge with the deciding vote – confirmed she too would have saved Bethany and Nancy.

Last night’s leaderboard was full of surprises.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was the bookies’ favourite to go but pulled a showstopping Couple’s Choice routine out of the bag and managed to land his highest score of the series with 28 points.

After landing in the bottom two just a fortnight ago, Jaime Winstone topped the leaderboard, sharing first place with YouTuber Cach Mercer, making them both much stronger contenders to go all the way to the final.

However, after being the front-runner last week, Australian poster Delta Goodrem was forced to stop out of last night’s show after sustaining a rib injury in training.

Strictly hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe explained to viewers why the Eurovision star wasn’t in the studio and sent their love.

Delta was watching from home and burst into tears as she watched the trio pay tribute.

Ahead the performances, she shared an update with fans in a video on Instagram, saying: ‘Hello everybody! I just wanted to say hello before Strictly starts, I’ve got my little seat ready and I’ve been recovering. 

‘I promise I’ll share more over the next couple of days, it takes a while to get into a positive mindset when you have a setback and you just need to be able to process it and work out what the body is saying and how we continue to move through this but in the meantime I’m very excited to see the amazing talented class of 2026.

‘I’m so exited to watch them do their iconic performances tonight.’ 

Strictly Come Dancing returns next Saturday and Sunday on BBC One.