Strictly’s Mike Bushell was “50 times better in the dance off” says Katya Jones
The Strictly Come Dancing contestant also said the show's judges were "the best in the world"
And so Mike Bushell lives to fight another day. Competing in his second consecutive Strictly Come Dancing dance-off on Sunday (27th October), the BBC presenter managed to face down Corrie actress Catherine Tyldesley.
But did the judges make the right decision? Should Bushell have stayed? According to most of Twitter: no. After the results show, the TV host faced a stream of tweets telling him he should have been voted out.
However, Bushell recently responded to this reaction on BBC Breakfast. "You have to rise above the abuse on social media, that's one of the sad things about social media,” he said. “All you can do is do your best, accept the judges' decision if not and move on.”
Bushell added: "It's an entertainment show, we're all just trying our best, and you're not really competing against anybody else. You compete against yourself to try and learn to get better and better each week, even if it’s just learning a couple of new steps – because as a non-dancer all I can do is put the hours in, do my best and get through it.
"Johannes and Catherine are lovely people, I didn't want to see them go but at the end of the day someone has to go.”
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Speaking about his performance on the show, Bushell said his dance partner Katya Jones had claimed his Tango in the dance-off was superior to one he performed in the main show.
"I just have to accept the judges’ decision and just concentrate on improving, and if Katya is happy with what I'm doing then I'm happy,” he said. “She said the dance-off was 50 times better than the run."
Bushell also appeared to defend the judging panel – including head judge Shirley Ballas, who was widely criticised on social media for keeping Bushell in the competition.
"It's like football – you have to accept the referee's decision. [The judges] are the best judges in the world, they do know what they're talking about,” he said. “If they'd sent me home then, of course, that would have been the best decision. I can't get involved in any of that.”
Bushell and Jones will return on this Saturday’s show alongside the contest's remaining nine couples. It is currently unclear whether Will Bayley will perform, with the table tennis player picking up a painful injury in training last week.
While the rules of Strictly will allow the couple to return, it is not clear how long Will may need to recover.
Strictly Come Dancing is BBC One, Saturday 2nd November at 7pm
