Toyah Willcox admits it ‘meant a lot’ not to be first out of BBC Strictly following Tom Dean exit backlash
Toyah Willcox was the latest person to be voted off this year’s Strictly Come Dancing after facing the dreaded dance-off for the second time.
The singer-songwriter was saved in week two when her and dancer partner Neil Jones were up against Olympian Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova. A huge backlash form the public followed, with viewers branding the BBC show “a fix” as many believed Dean, 24, had been a stronger dancer.
However, 66-year-old Willcox unfortunately found herself in the bottom two once again on Sunday following her Movie Week routine.
She and Jones danced a samba to The Little Mermaid’s Poor Unfortunate Souls, but the judges had mixed feedback following the performance, with the four pointing out “mistakes” but applauding Willcox’s “characterisation”.
On Sunday, she was in the dance-off once again, this time alongside former footballer Paul Merson and Karen Hauer, whom the judges unanimously decided to save.
On Monday, Willcox and Jones appeared on Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two to discuss her time in the competition, where she shared some thoughts about being in the dance-off twice .
Host Fleur East welcomed the pair to the show as she told Willcox: “You brought so much energy to the dance floor. Are you gutted that you don’t get to show off some more dancing?”
“Yeah, of course I’m gutted,” the It’s a Mystery hit-maker confessed before continuing: “But I had the most fantastic time, and I’m not going to kind of blight the memory of it with the sadness of going.”
She went on to note: “I was not off first, which meant a lot to me.
“I’ve had the most brilliant, life-affirming experience in the last two months. I’m in a good place, really good place.”
“And you won the first dance off,” East, 36, reminded her before she turned to choreographer Jones, 42, and asked: “Neil, what did you say to Toyah before you went out there to dance again?”
“Exactly that,” Jones replied. “I said to her, ‘you know what? You’ve won a dance off already. So you know what’s going to happen – you know what’s going to be there’.
“And I said, ‘if you win this one, I think you could be the dance off champion, and I think every single person would be scared of you after that.
“‘If they heard your name in a dance off, they’d be like, no, no, we can’t do it. Doesn’t matter how good they are. They’d be like we’re not doing it.'”
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“I would love that, I would’ve loved it!” Willcox admitted before Jones recalled how Merson, 56, had shared a joke with them ahead of their dance-off.
“Actually, Paul said something quite funny, because after, when we walked in there, Paul looked at her, and said, ‘no no you’re not seeing any fear in my eyes!'” Jones laughed.
Following the couple’s elimination on Sunday, the professional dancer had only good things to say of his partner as he told viewers: “She’s [Willcox] made me laugh so much.
“I’ve never seen someone work so hard – I’m the one asking for breaks! She’s brilliant and she’s what Strictly’s all about.”
Willcox went on to enthuse “it’s been the best two months of my life”.
