Strictly pro Carlos Gu breaks down during emotional dance with Karen Carney

Strictly Come Dancing professional Carlos Gu began to cry during his semi-final Waltz alongside Karen Carney, prompting both Karen and the judges to tear up.

The couple were third to perform on the Strictly ballroom, to a beautiful rendition of One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston, and no dry eye was left in the studio!

During the performance, the pro began to tear up as Karen comforted him, before they both began to cry even more once their dance came to an end.

The couple was met with high praise from the judges, with Anton Du Beke leading proceedings: "I never thought for a second you could dance like that... For you to be able to come out, this is your journey, being able to produce this quality of dancing. My heart skips a beat when I see this, this is beautiful and I love you for this."

Head judge Shirley Ballas had nothing but positive comments for the pair, adding: "Your rise and fall at the beginning was exceptional, your pivots were beautiful, your sensitivity with Carlos is just where it needed to be for a semi-final. You stayed in hold, you perfected it beautifully."

The judges comments only spurred on the emotions, as Karen told host Claudia Winkleman: "Because for the first time, I let loose and let go and I leaned into him... Today I was like, 'Just go out there and just enjoy it and lean into him'. It's me and him on the floor and when I connect with him, there's no better feeling."

Speaking of the comment they began to cry. Karen explained: "I saw him kind of wobbling and I was going and I was like this feels so nice. I want to thank the costume team because they've made me feel so beautiful."

"I wanted us to do this dance for each other and for the journey we have had," Carlos added as he began to cry further.

The emotional tears soon turned into happy ones as they scored 39 points from the judges, which Carlos said was "unbelievable".

The pair currently sit at the top of the leaderboard, but all could change as they follow up with a Salsa later on in the episode.

Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch on catch-up on BBC iPlayer.

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