Strictly’s Giovanni Pernice wishes a contestant was eliminated this week
It's the first live shows this weekend, but we won't see a contestant leave until week 2.
It's almost time for the first Strictly Come Dancing live shows.
On Saturday 23rd September, all 15 celebs in the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up will take to the floor with their celebrity dance partners to perform their first routine.
They'll be scored by the judges, but there will be no elimination this week - with the week 1 and week 2 scores added together.
Strictly professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, who is dancing with actress Amanda Abbington this year, wishes that a contestant was leaving this weekend, admitting that he loves the "competition".
Asked if not having any eliminations takes the pressure off, the dancer told RadioTimes.com exclusively: "Oh god, no - I like competition."
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He continued: "It's still a competition. But again, as I always say, I always teach my partner something. It's not about the scores, it's about what you're delivering on the night.
"Obviously, if you get good scores it's fantastic, but you want to please the judges and you want to please the public - because, at the end of the day, we have seen in the past that even if you're at the top of the leaderboard with your scores, you can be in the dance off.
"The pressure of going out, I think, is what makes the week go better. Because all week you're thinking, 'I don't want to go home!' so you're going to put the pressure on yourself to make the dance really good.
"So it's a shame that this week there is no elimination, because I wanted somebody to go home."
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So, isn't he worried that he and Amanda could be the first to go?
"There's no question! We are not the first couple to go. Unless something happens - and we can't choose - but I don't think we'll be the first to go."
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The Strictly Come Dancing songs and dances have been revealed for week 1, and the duo will be doing a Viennese waltz to Pointless by Lewis Capaldi.
On their performance, Gio said: "It's beautiful. It's great. It's fantastic. It's a beautiful song, and I can tell you it's going to be a lot of frame positions."
Strictly Come Dancing is on Saturday 23rd September at 6:15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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