Strictly's Nadiya Bychkova reveals worst thing about Tom Dean's exit - and it's bad news for fans

Strictly Come Dancing star Nadiya Bychkova praised 'wonderful gentleman' Tom Dean after he was eliminated from the dance competition over the weekend

Strictly Come Dancing star Nadiya Bychkova revealed Tom Dean never had the chance to become the 'brilliant dancer' she believed he could have been.

Over the weekend, the 24-year-old Olympic swimmer was the first star to be eliminated from the show after landing in the bottom two with Toyal Willcox and her pro dance partner Neil Jones. Tom and Nadiya performed a Cha Cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire once again.

During the live show on Saturday, they received a score of 20 from the judges bringing his total to 43 after picking up 23 points last week for his tango to Harry Styles ' song Golden. Unfortunately, the judges opted to save Toyal and Neil, which left fans fuming that it was a 'fix'.

After their exit, Nadiya took to her Instagram page to share the worst thing about Tom's exit from the BBC dance competition. She said to followers: "Tom had so much to give and I had so much I wanted to teach him. His improvement in the last 2 weeks has been incredible and I think, actually I know, he could have become a brilliant dancer.

"I’m devastated that you won’t get to see that." She also said that he was 'an amazing student' and a 'wonderful gentleman'. Soon after the results aired on Sunday night Nadiya posted a photo of herself with Tom on Instagram. It showed them both in their costumes as Nadiya emotionally wrote: "I really appreciate all the messages but I'm not ready to talk about what happened tonight just yet."

Reflecting on his time on the show, Tom said: “I’ve had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible. I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer. We’ll still go out for loads of brunches I’m sure.”

The judges were unable to reach a unanimous decision between Tom and Toyah. Anton Du Beke wanted to keep Tom, while Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Toyah, meaning it was down to head judge Shirley Ballas. In the end, she decided to keep Toyah, sending Tom home.

Fans were furious with the decision and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to complain about the exit. One user said: "Absolute fix. They obviously have some deal to give Neil more air time this year. Poor Tom. Not on at all." Another added: "Tom has been robbed!! Toyah was by far the worse dancer!!! Absolute Fix."

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