Strictly’s Katya Jones breaks down in tears as Adam Peaty is voted off after tense dance-off with Tilly Ramsay

STRICTLY'S Adam Peaty and Katya Jones were eliminated from the show tonight following a close dance-off with Tilly Ramsay and Nikita Kuzmin.

The Olympic swimmer, 26, found himself in the deep end once again after finishing bottom of the leaderboard, and this time he was unable to pull himself to safety.

He said: "I have absolutely loved every single challenge. I've never had a challenge like this. As an Olympian for 16 years, I've pushed my body to places I never thought they'd be pushed. I've so much respect for dancers across the world. It's just a great, great experience."

A teary Katya, 32, said: "I was not ready to be in this position today. What was really nice after the dance floor is I looked at him and he had tears in his eyes."

Judge Craig Revel Horwood said he wouldn't have put either act in the bottom two and saved Tilly, while Motsi Mabuse agreed Tilly was more in tune with the music.

Anton Du Beke called it a "great dance-off" and saved Tilly too, but Shirley Ballas said she would have chosen Adam had her vote been needed.

Despite the pair's low score for their jive to Little Bitty Pretty One by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, viewers believed they had much more to give.

One wrote on Twitter: "#Strictly on nooo, love watching Adam..what a shame..those two should not have been in the dance off. Fully amazing too."

Another said: "@adam_peaty such a shame your not going to be in strictly anymore! #gutted you did so well!"

A third wrote: "The wrong couples were in the dance off, sorry just my opinion… So sad to see Adam leave."

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The pair looked downcast after learning their fate on Saturday night.

Their routine, which was set in an American diner, failed to impress the judges, who gave them just 27 points.

Adam made several footwork mistakes that didn't go unnoticed by the judges, particularly Shirley Ballas.

"You had a beautiful postural stance, but you did make an error and that did make you hesitant to get those kicks up again," the judge noted.

While Shirley was not too impressed with the jive, she found herself fighting back tears over John Whaite and Johannes Radebe's romantic rumba.

The two men put on a dazzling display with the moving routine, which judge Craig Revel Horwood said he wanted to be his "wedding dance".

When it was time for head judge Shirley to give her critique she was equally blown away – admitting that she was on the verge of crying.

She said: "Actually I’m quite moved, I feel really quite emotional after watching that."

Giving feedback, the star’s voice cracked and she clutched her chest as she stopped herself and repeated: "I’m getting all emotional."

Elsewhere on the show, Aj and Kai topped the leaderboard after getting an amazing 39 from the judges with their impressive Charleston.