Sixth celebrity eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing

Olympian Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has become the sixth celebrity voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

The Gladiator known as Nitro, 37, left the competition with professional partner Karen Hauer after losing Sunday night’s dance-off against Drag Race UK runner-up La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec.

The two couples repeated their routines from Saturday night, with Aikines-Aryeetey and Hauer dancing their samba to a Gloria Estefan song of the same name, while La Voix and Skorjanec took to the floor again for a foxtrot to Cass Elliot’s Make Your Own Kind of Music.

Judges Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Shirley Ballas all chose to save La Voix and Skorjanec before Motsi Mabuse, who had this week’s casting vote, saying she would have voted the same way if it had been needed.

Aikines-Aryeetey said: “I just want to thank Karen, genuinely, you have given me an opportunity to shine.

“You’ve understood my crazy brain.

“I’m such a logical person, trying to dance – and obviously doing what I do: Olympic sprinter, Gladiator – now I’m trying to be a dancer.

“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.

“I want to thank everyone here. Literally, this has been a dream come true. This is a celebration.

“I spoke to my daughter and she didn’t like seeing her dad sad, and when she saw me sad last week, she was like, ‘Daddy what’s wrong?’, and I wanted to show everyone that, no matter what happens, there’s always a silver lining.

“This is an experience for me, so thank you for this lovely gift, and at the end of the day, we carry on, we give it to them, and we continue to shine.”

Hauer said it was an honour to teach Aikines-Aryeetey and thanked him for all his hard work.

She said: “I am extremely proud. We’ve had the best time.

“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.”

Sunday’s results show also featured a musical performance from James Morrison of Fight Another Day, accompanied by professional dancers Jowita Przystal and Neil Jones.

The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment joined the Strictly professionals for a group performance to mark Remembrance Sunday, set to the Sam Fender song Remember My Name.

The remaining eight couples will return to the Strictly dancefloor next Saturday at 6.25pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, followed by the Sunday results show on November 16 at 7.15pm.