Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon reveal one piece of advice from the judges that has stuck with them

Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon found themselves in the dance-off on back-to-back weekends earlier this month, and at times faced some tough criticisms from the judges.

But they haven't let that hold them back and last weekend the pair found themselves safe from the dance-off and through to this weekend's show, in which they will be performing an "alluring" Rumba that has been putting the EastEnders actress through her paces.

"We're learning the rumba, which is a very technically hard dance. You have to be very specific and I just wasn't getting it. It just felt really hard, it felt like a really tall task," she told RadioTimes.com ahead of tonight's show.

As Balvinder and Julian get ready for a brand new performance for audiences and the judges, there has been one piece of advice from judge Motsi Mabuse that has been helping them throughout the competition.

Julian told RadioTimes.com: "Motsi came and spoke to us after our second dance-off, and just said 'We're doing great. Keep your head up. Just keep fighting no matter what. Just keep fighting, like, whatever your situation is [and] don't get down, just keep fighting. Be yourself.

"As thrilled as we were to get through the dance-off, I think we were both a little bit like, 'Oh, I can't believe we had to go through that again'. And so when she [Motsi] came up to us, like, keep fighting no matter what, this is the show some people are in the dance-off every week until the finals, so don't be disheartened. Just keep fighting. And I think that was really lovely. And I think the timing of it was pretty perfect as well."

And keep fighting they have! Last weekend, their Beyoncé inspired Quickstep saw them score 28 points, safe from the bottom two – and they're ready to climb up that leaderboard once more.

Speaking of their performance to Stay by Shakespears Sister, Julian told RadioTimes.com: "There's parts of the track that are very, kind of soft and a very akin to, like, a kind of romance. But then there's this change in the music which is very intense and dark and which really suits the character of the dance that we have.

"So our dance is kind of a story of, I would say, thirds, where there's an opening part where we're kind of infatuated, or I'm kind of obsessed, and cast on to this spell.

"Then it's like a bit of a fight and a bit of a push and pull, and then it kind of comes back to that kind of romance at the end."

Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday 1st November at 6:35pm.

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