Zoe Ball leads stunned stars reacting to Nadiya Bychkova's furious Strictly Come Dancing statement

Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova's Strictly journey ended this Sunday as the couple were the first to be eliminated from the competition, leaving Zoe Ball, among others, disappointed.

BBC Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball was one of many Strictly Come Dancing viewers to be "gutted" by the outcome of this Sunday's results evening and she expressed her disappointment on social media alongside multiple other celebrities.

After strutting on to the dancefloor this Saturday, Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova were the first pair to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing 2024 this Sunday evening (September 29).

The pair faced off against Toyah Willcox and her own partner Neil Jones on Sunday’s dance-off, and Tom Dean was quick to express his sadness over leaving the BBC One show. Nadiya, on the other hand, took to Instagram to share her thoughts in a bombshell post.

"I really appreciate all the messages but I’m not ready to talk about what happened tonight just yet", she penned. Many of her 193k followers took to the comment section, with Zoe Ball writing: "love you Lady. gutted for you and Tom." Other celebrities followed suit soon after.

Former BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker responded to Nadiya's post with two mind-blown emojis, while presenter Helen Skelton added a crying emoji as she lamented: "Such a shame." But Nadiya also received a string of supportive messages from her competitors on the popular competition. Dianne Buswell and Johannes Radebe wrote: "team golden", followed by red heart emojis, just as Tasha Ghouri, Dr Punam Krishan and Sam Quek all reacted with their own sets of emojis to express their sadness.

When asked by Tess Daly about her and Tom’s time on the show, Nadiya gushed: “To get to know him, he’s not just a three-time Olympic champion he’s a true gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in. And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don’t need to win, and that’s how I feel this year.” The remaining 14 couples will take to the dancefloor next week for the fan favourite Movie Week Special.

On Saturday, Toyah and Neil landed at the bottom of the leaderboard. Despite Anton hailing this week's Jive as '1,000 times better' than their Tango, the pair scored just 30 out of a possible 80 for their combined dances. Former footballer Paul Merson followed close behind with partner Karen Hauer at 32.

At the other end, Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec left the judges and fans speechless with their Viennese Waltz to Rhapsody in Blue, scoring them three nines and one eight and - combined with last week's score - sending them soaring right to the top of the leaderboard with 65 out of 80. Following up closely behind were Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola with an impressive combined score or 62.

Elsewhere, fans of the hit show were left outraged on Saturday night when Strictly's first dance-off victim was leaked online. One tweeted: "i genuinely don’t think i’ve ever been more pissed off if i’m being honest. heads will roll. #StrictlySpoiler." Another agreed, writing: "A very cruel week one boot."

A third commented: "Not surprised by the bottom 2 but I'm actually disgusted at the result! What are the judges on #StrictlySpoiler." While another wrote: "Genuinely in shock at this week's result." One tweeted: "The way my heart dropped reading that #strictlyspoiler."

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