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Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has become the sixth celebrity to be eliminated from the 2025 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The 37-year-old athlete, also known as Nitro on Gladiators, was ousted from the competition alongside his professional partner Karen Hauer after ending up in the dance off with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star La Voix and Aljaž Škorjanec.
Olympian Aikines-Aryeetey, a former Team GB sprinter, was sent home by the judges, with all four voting to save La Voix.
He said taking part in Strictly was a dream come true, calling the show “a celebration”, and he thanked Hauer for giving him “an opportunity to shine”.
“You’ve understood my crazy brain. I just want to thank you so much for the time and effort, the hard work that you’ve given to me. You show up, you turn out,” he said.
Hauer told her celebrity partner after the result was announced: “I am extremely proud. We’ve had the best time.
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey was sixth star to be eliminated from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC)
“You’re such a gentleman, you’re a hard worker, you listen, and you get into those times where I don’t know what you were thinking, but you know what? I loved you in every kind of way because of the person that you are, and it was an honour to teach you, so thank you so much.”
Aikines-Aryeetey was a participant on last year’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special alongside professional dancer Nancy Xu.
His appearance on the main show follows Gladiators co-star Montell Douglas, who made it to week 10 of the 2024 series.
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EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal, who has been in the dance off three times so far, sailed through to the next round following a Bhangra-inspired Couple’s Choice routine to “Sapphire” by Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh.
One person who was left with lower scores than usual was ER and Doctor Who actor Alex Kingston.
After performing, Kingston tearfully explained that she is “numerically dyslexic”, which made performing the paso doble to a lyric-free song “difficult” during Saturday night’s episode.
The judges noted that Kingston seemed considerably less confident than she had in previous weeks, with Motsi Mabuse noting that this marked “the first time that I’ve felt a little bit of insecurity from you”.
According to the NHS, dyscalculia is a persistent difficulty in understanding numbers. It is thought to impact one in 20 people.
Strictly Come Dancing continues at 6.25pm on 15 November.
