Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Toniolo feared Ed Balls would drop his dance partner with risky lift
Former politician messed up his lift with dance partner Katya Jones on Saturday night's live show
BRUNO Toniolo genuinely feared Ed Balls was going to drop his dance partner on Strictly’s Saturday night live show.
The judge watched in horror as the former Labour shadow chancellor struggled to get his partner Katya Jones on his shoulder during their American Smooth routine.
While many laughed off the blunder, including the couple themselves, the Italian insisted on Sunday night’s results show that he was genuinely concerned for Katya’s safety.
He told Claudia Winkleman: “Listen, I actually thought she was going to bash her head. I really was very, very worried.
“It was dangerous, she could have bashed her head on the floor. It was entertaining but very, very dangerous.”
Ed and Katya danced to Is This The Way to Amarillo? while dressed as a hitchhiker.
However, in one daring lift, Ed almost sent the Russian beauty flying, after flinging her up on his shoulder and nearly dropping her.
Undeterred, the feisty pair finished the song by doing the lift again – with slightly more success as the crowd cheered them on.
However, despite the pair being praised for the amount of effort they put into their routines, they were once again hounded by the judges for their poor performance.
Bruno said at the time: “One thing is for sure – you’re never going to join the Royal Ballet! What a titanic effort.”
He added: “You just go all over the place like you’ve read the HitchHikers Guide to Ballroom Backwards.”
Craig Revel Horwood referred to the routine as the “antithesis of smooth” before telling them off for doing four lifts instead of the maximum amount of three.
Ed then spoke up after Craig condemned his tricky lift, and said: “It was a good lift! I could do it to you as well if you want!”
Taking the bait, Craig flirted back: “We can do that in the bar afterwards!”
However, despite the banter, Craig only gave Ed and Katya 2 points – resulting in the pair earning only 18 total marks.
Saturday night’s episode of Strictly was thrown into chaos after Laura Whitmore pulled out of performing the jive just two hours before the show was due to go on the air.
The star announced she would not be on the show via a message on Twitter, revealing she was “absolutely devastated” by the last minute cancellation.
She and partner Giovanni Pernice have been given a ‘bye’ through to next weeks show, with Strictly bosses wishing her a speedy recovery.
Laura’s exit from was the second loss to Saturday’s performance after professional dancer Brendan Cole was also forced to pull out because of ill health.
His dance partner Anastacia danced instead with Gorka ‘The Corker’ Marquez, who previously appeared on this year’s show with Tameka Empson.
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