BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Gorka Marquez defends Dr Punam Krishan as they exit competition in Halloween horror

Gorka Marquez was heard defending Dr Punam Krishan as they became the latest couple to leave Strictly Come Dancing. The pair suffered a Halloween horror as they became the ffith pair to exit the BBC One dance contest following the spooky special.

The Morning Live star and the Spanish dancer were among the 11 couples taking to the dance floor on Saturday night (October 26) during the BBC One dance contest's annual Halloween special.

And as fright night arrived, things didn't quite go Punam and Gorka's way as they came joint bottom of the scoreboard alongside Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell after their pirate-themed tango to Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics.

READ MORE: Gorka Marquez 'fights tears' as Gemma Atkinson reveals son's 'first word' before hitting back

During Sunday night's (October 27) results show, Punam and Gorka faced the dance-off against former actor and singer Shayne Ward and his professional dance partner Nancy Xu following the public vote, who found themselves under the dreaded red light for a second time so far this series.

Punam and Gorka reprised their spooky tango while Shayne and Nancy recreated their dramatic paso doble to In The Hall Of The Mountain King by Grieg, which had secured them 31 points on Saturday night.

After both couples had danced a second time, Craig Revel Horwood, Motis Mabuse and Anton Du Beke decided to save Shayne and Nancy, automatically sending Punam and Gorka home. Head Judge Shirley Ballas also agreed and said she would have decided to save Shayne and Nancy.

As they spoke to Tess Daly about their exit, Gorka spoke out in support of Dr Punam: "It's been incredible, it's been a fantastic six weeks. I'm very proud of what she has achieved. She's a GP and a Mum. She had never danced before and I think she improved week by week. I think she is truly what the show is about, someone who doesn't have experience in the performance world came here and learnt to dance.

"She wanted to do so well and worked so hard. Also I feel very proud and very honoured that we got to do a Bollywood dance, to represent your culture, show your culture to the world and open doors for so many people in your culture."

Of her time on the show, Punam said: "I am really proud of myself. You know I’ve taken on something that’s so out of my comfort zone. The one thing that I’ve very much learnt is to say yes more, and that there is no point in your life when you can stop learning new skills. I’ve learnt more than dancing, I’ve learnt so much from Gorka.

"Everyone’s been so incredible and it’s just memories that I’ll take home forever and I am very proud. I’ve made my family very proud, I’m just really grateful."