Strictly's Shayne Ward comforts dance partner as she gets upset over comments

Nancy Xu faced some criticism over the routine she created for Halloween Week

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Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu faced some criticism from the Strictly judges. (BBC)

Strictly's Shayne Ward comforted his pro partner Nancy Xu as she got upset over comments they had received on the BBC show.

The pair's dramatic Paso Doble on Saturday night drew a mixed response from the judges, with Shirley Ballas saying she was "confused" by the fact that the routine saw Xu dancing for a bit while Ward stayed still. They scored a respectable 31 out of 40 but ended up in the bottom two, where Ward went head to head with Dr Punam Krishan.

The criticism came up as the pair appeared on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two and Xu was visibly upset. Putting his arm around the dancer, Ward assured her: "You did amazing."

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Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu ended up in the bottom two. (BBC)

Ward and Xu were on the show on Tuesday, 29 October and host Fleur East noted that the judges had been conflicted about their performance and asked why.

"I am not too sure," admitted Ward. "I think what Nancy choreographed was amazing and she choreographed it for Halloween. I think it had everything that it needed in terms of Paso Doble, all the moves, all the shapes, and Craig (Revel Horwood) thankfully saw that and picked up on that, but who knows, who knows?"

"We are doing an entertainment show, we are to bring something, that's why we have a movie week, Halloween week... it's not just about correct technique, important, but it's also having fun, make people enjoy our performance and I think we tried to bring everything we could possibly give to the show," said Xu, looking emotional.

Shayne Ward comforted Nancy Xu on It Takes Two. (BBC screengrab)
Shayne Ward comforted Nancy Xu on It Takes Two. (BBC screengrab)

"We will keep pushing and I think for how much people dislike this choreography, and there is also the other side, people like the choreography and I do feel, as choreographer we want to make more memories on this dancefloor," she said.

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Ward looked moved himself and put his arm around Xu. "We will, we will," he said. "You did amazing."

Viewers were also sad to see Xu upset, with one posting on X: "Oooh! Nancy has taken this choreo criticism hard. Really feel for her, but she’s standing by her choice so that’s good."

"Really like how Shayne is being protective over Nancy following the criticism of her choreography on Saturday," said another.

Strictly Come Dancing's Shayne Ward dances with Nancy Xu
Strictly's Shayne Ward has been in the dance off twice. (BBC)

While Ward survived the dance-off, he said it was a "horrible feeling" to have ended up there for the second time.

"I am not too sure," he said of why it happened. "It's not nice being in the bottom two... It's a horrible feeling.

"You never quite know what the public are going to warm to but I am just seriously proud of the routine that we did. I think it just fitted Halloween Week perfectly and I couldn't have asked for a better partner to do it with."

Strictly: It Takes Two airs on BBC Two at 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One at 6.25pm on Saturday.