davood's vamoosed
Strictly Come Dancing’s Davood Ghadami booted off after tense dance-off with Alexandra Burke
DAVOOD Ghadami has become the tenth Strictly contestant to leave the show following a nail-biting dance-off with Alexandra Burke tonight.
The EastEnders star, who had performed a Phantom Of The Opera-themed Argentine Tango, just missed out on next week's semi-finals after performing with former Playboy model Nadiya Bychkova for 11 weeks.
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The soap actor, known for playing Walford hunk Kush, received a judges' score of 29 which left him bottom of the leaderboard with Emmerdale's Gemma Atkinson.
And on Sunday night the judges opted to ditch Davood and save former X Factor winner Alexandra - on the same night of the final of the current X Factor series.
It came 24 hours after fans tweeted that Alexandra's high score of 39 from the judges - for her Mary Poppins Quickstep - showed "favouritism" and possible signs of a "fix".
Speaking about his exit, the 35-year-old said: "It's such a shame. We got so much further than I thought so it's definitely mixed feelings here. I'm so pleased we got so far.
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"I am actually quite proud of what we achieved, Nadiya and I.
"And I think maybe it's the right time to go but it is that feeling of 'oh we were so close to the end'.
"Things get serious the next couple of weeks for the guys that remain and I just wish them all the best and every cloud has a silver lining.
"I get to spend a bit of time with my family now, get to see Nadiya on a recreational basis rather than 'come on let's go and dance'," he added.
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Davood Ghadami and Nadiya Bychkova dance the Argentine Tango on Strictly Come Dancing
Poor Davood was criticised heavily for his technique in Saturday's Argentine Tango, which was his dance effort for Musicals Week.
Head Judge Shirley Ballas commented that the dance "had some spectacular lifts, but... had some stumbling points... and some balance issues".
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But Davood, who was sent support from 2016 Strictly champ Ore Oduba, said he felt this was his best dance, calling it "possessing" and a "highlight.
He added: "This was one of the highs and to go out with a bang. We didn't want to fizzle out and we went out with a bang."
Asked who he'd be supporting out of the remaining five dancers Gemma, Alexandra, Debbie McGee, Mollie King and Joe McFadden, Davood refused to choose.
But he said: "Whoever the winner is will be very very deserving. Everyone that's left is a wonderful dancer...
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"They're all going to work so hard. It's not easy this - it's a strange thing; you have to give it your all.
"There are two more dances to tackle and I think anything can happen week by week. It's been a good few weeks for us leading up to this and I'm sure everyone will give it their best.
"Whoever wins has my backing. They're all brilliant."
Davood Ghadami and Nadiya Bychkova dance the Waltz on Strictly Come Dancing
Someone else who viewers reckon is "brilliant" is Ed Balls - who returned to the studio this weekend and performed his Gangnam Style dance, to everyone's delight.
Strictly continues with its semi-finals on Saturday at 6.45pm on BBC One.
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