Strictly Come Dancing’s Aljaz Skorjanec has defended his celebrity partner Clara Amfo after she ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard last week.
The BBC Radio 1 DJ, 36, received just 18 points from the judges for her samba to That’s The Way (I Like It), narrowly avoiding the Sunday night dance-off.
Following her performance last Saturday, head judge Shirley Ballas told Amfo that her feet “missed the mark” and it was her “weakest performance so far”.
Appearing on BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two, Skorjanec said he was proud of his partner for her enthusiasm and effort.
Asked whether the samba just was not Amfo’s dance, he told host Rylan Clark-Neal: “I am scared to answer that question Rylan. Just give me one second. Samba is a carnival dance. You have got to go out there and you have got to go crazy.
“I feel the technique was there. Yes, there was a couple of mistakes but I would rather you went out there and you gave it your absolute best, and we did that.
“No dance on Strictly has ever been perfect in 17 years. There hasn’t been one dance where everything has gone by the plan.
Happy birthday to living legend Tina Turner! For @claraamfo it's a dream come true Jiving on #Strictly to River Deep Mountain High 😍 pic.twitter.com/B5sZNvYaEV
— BBC Strictly ✨ (@bbcstrictly) November 26, 2020
“There have always been little mishaps. And I think you smashed that.”
Amfo said that despite the scores she had enjoyed the performance.
She said: “I had such a laugh. The scores were the scores but honestly we were just like ‘Ha’.
“It was just fun. The whole point of Strictly is doing things over the top and when else am I going to get to wear bright yellow eye shadow, dress up as a chef and samba around an imaginary greasy spoon? It was everything you wanted it to be.”