Strictly announces the sixth celebrity elimination

Strictly Come Dancing has announced the sixth couple to leave the competition is Adam Peaty and Katya Jones.

They faced Tilly Ramsay and her partner Nikita Kuzmin in the dreaded dance-off, but Adam and Katya's Jive to 'Little Bitty Pretty One' by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers failed to impress the judges.

Judge Craig Revel-Horwood, in an uncharacteristically nice moment, said he wouldn't have picked those two couples for the bottom two and struggled to pick one couple to save, but chose to save Tilly and Nikita.

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He said: "Firstly, I wouldn't have put these couples in the bottom. That's just me personally, but seeing they are there and I've got to choose, I'm finding it really difficult tonight and this isn't like me.

"But for the reason of a better dancer and a better dance-off scenario, I'm going to choose to save Nikita and Tilly."

Motsi Mabuse agreed that it was "tough", but also chose to save Tilly and Nikita.

Anton Du Beke also agreed with their decisions and said it was a great dance-off.

adam peaty and tilly ramsay danceoff strictly

BBC

"I'm delighted for both couples performing that well in the dance-off. If you have a dance-off, you want both people to dance really, really well and they both did," he said.

"I found it so equal I was desperate for something to happen to make me choose and there was a moment in one of the dances that made me decide and that was Tilly and Nikita."

Head judge Shirley Ballas said she would have actually saved Adam and Katya if the decision fell to her.

Adam admitted that Strictly has been his biggest challenge, and "has pushed my body to places that I never thought it could be pushed".

"I have absolutely loved every single challenge," he said. "I've never had a challenge like this. As an Olympian for 16 years, I've pushed my body to places that I never thought it could be pushed.

"This is just a whole new ballgame and I've got so much respect for everyone that dances across the world and to all of these contestants and pros that put themselves on the line every single week, it's just been a great experience."

BBC

Katya called him an "absolute unbeatable machine" who had tears in his eyes when he realised he was in the dance-off.

"I was not ready to be in this position today. But looking back, this is you, you have done all of this. None of us expected you to come from the Olympics. After the dance-off, I looked at him and he had tears in his eyes.

"Someone who's an absolute unbeatable machine that we see defending his titles for seven years non-stop, being emotional about dancing. I really think you deserve a lot more appreciation for what you've done and I was not ready for this."

Strictly Come Dancing 2021 airs on Saturday nights on BBC One, with results shows every Sunday. Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights at 6.30pm on BBC Two.