Ellie Goldstein has been eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing. The model, 23, who made history as the first contestant with Down's syndrome to take part in the BBC Saturday night favourite, found herself in the dance off with professional partner Vito Coppola following their Tango to Lady Gaga hit Abracadraba during the Halloween themed heat.
Ellie and Vito had to take on EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon in the dance-off, and judges Anton du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood all opted to save the soap star and send her through to the next round.
Head judge Shirley Ballas had been given the deciding vote for the week should it be needed, and admitted she also would have opted to save Balvinder had she needed to, although she did admit that Ellie had been 'outstanding throughout the whole competition'.
Upon their elimination from the show, Vito hugged Ellie tightly and said: "Honestly, there are no words I can use to describe how proud I am of you and you did really change my life so much. You made me such a better person.
"At the beginning of this year, I said to myself please, please, please can you send me a beautiful angel into my life?
"And now you arrived. I’ve never had a little sister but I always wanted one. Now, I have you and you’re my little sister forever, and your big brother is always by your side.”
An emotional Ellie then said: “I’ve enjoyed it so much! He is a kind person and all I wanted from day one. You have been so heartwarming, thank you to you [Vito].”
Sunday night's result show also saw a performance of How to be Human by Celebrity Traitors star Cat Burns, and professional dancers Michelle Tsiakkas and Nancy Xu featured alongside her with a routine. The Strictly Professionals also performed a Monsters’ Ball group routine.
The results show is filmed on Saturday nights and broadcast on Sundays, but when news of the elimination leaked online before broadcast, fans admitted they were 'heartbroken' at who had been sent home.
One simply wrote: "Noooooo," and left a sad emoji and a broken heart with their tweet.
Another said: "the strictly spoiler. omg," whilst a third admitted: "I had a feeling this was going to be the result. Devastated for the parson who left but it was the correct result sadly. Heartbroken for the other person too but I hope this means they'll come back fighting next week."
Last week, footballer Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley were sent home following a tense dance-off with musical theatre star Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.
Ellie and Vito will join Strictly: It Takes Two for their first live televised interview on Monday at 6:30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
The remaining nine couples will take to the dancefloor next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday 8 November at 6.25pm, with the results show on Sunday 9 November at 7.10pm. Next week’s results show will see the professionals joined by the Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment to mark Remembrance Sunday.
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