George Clarke delivers ‘beautiful’ Strictly dance in tribute to his mother

Strictly Come Dancing star George Clarke has been praised for a “beautiful” performance dedicated to his mother, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Ahead of his dance on Saturday, Clarke said in a video that his mother had been diagnosed with a brain inflammation condition called encephalitis when he was 16 and added: “Unfortunately, recently, she got diagnosed with cancer, nobody deserves what she’s gone through… there’s not a lot I can do to help so to give her this is special.”

In spite of positive reactions from the audience, Clarke and his dance partner Alexis Warr placed third to bottom on the judges’ leaderboard, scoring 29 points for their rhumba to Lily Allen’s version of Somewhere Only We Know.

Judge Craig Revel Horwood, who was booed by the audience, said: “Actually, it wasn’t a rhumba. So for me, it was difficult to judge…

“Admittedly, the story was absolutely magnificent. You told that beautifully, so achieved that, so you will win the audience votes with this.

“But unfortunately, you won’t win my vote. It just technically, was not great.”

Judge Motsi Mabuse said: “As a feeling, and the emotions behind the dance, this was really very, very beautiful.”

Following his dance, Clarke said: “You can tell your family you love them as much as you want, but it’s very rare to be able to have an opportunity to give them something. So that’s kind of what I wanted to do.”

Top of the leaderboard were reality TV star Amber Davies and her dance partner Nikita Kuzmin who wowed the judges with a paso doble to Aerosmith’s Dream On.

The couple, who scored 38 points, were told their dance was “perfect” by Mabuse.

Revel Horwood said: “My goodness, you (Davies) are so clean. You’re full of tone.

“Darling, the drama in that was absolutely magnificent. It was full of fire. You danced with purpose. I thought it was brilliant.”

Over in second place were soap star Lewis Cope and Katya Jones who scored 37 points after their tango to 12 To 12 by Sombr, and in third place were actress Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe who secured 35 points following their waltz to Barry Manilow’s Weekend In New England.

Head judge Shirley Ballas commented on Kingston’s “beautiful” footwork and said she had goosebumps during the performance.

Revel Horwood added: “The footwork was so clean. It was full of elegance… I’m really loving this partnership.”

Performing their couple’s choice this week were drag performer La Voix and dancer Aljaz Skorjanec who placed fourth, scoring 33 points for their performance to Don’t Rain On My Parade by Barbra Streisand.

The dance received mixed responses, with Revel Horwood saying the steps were “basic” while Ballas said she “loved” it.

Explaining how their father had influenced the dance, La Voix said: “I grew up with Barbra Streisand blasting through the house while he was doing the ironing, and I didn’t realise the impact that had on my life until I’m now like, ‘Why do I love all these divas?’ And it’s because of that man down there (in the audience) who raised me.”

Over in fifth place were Lioness turned football pundit Karen Carney and her dance partner Carlos Gu, who scored 31 points after their American smooth to You Don’t Own Me by Saygrace.

Anton Du Beke said Carney was “brilliant but brittle” while Revel Horwood called her dancing “spikey”.

Following their performance Gu broke down in tears and said: “You have no idea how hard she has been working this week.”

At the bottom of the leaderboard were EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal and reality TV star Vicky Pattison, who both scored 27 points with their respective partners.

Pattison, who wore a bright yellow dress, and professional dancer Kai Widdrington performed a jive to Sound Of The Underground by Girls Aloud.

Mabuse noticed the TV star had made “tiny little mistakes in the beginning”, and added: “But I actually, I love the way you recovered from that, because I could see you really trying hard, the whole dance.”

Sopal and dancer Julian Caillon, who secured their highest score last week, performed an American smooth to My Guy by Mary Wells, which received a mixed response from the judges.

Du Beke said Sopal’s characterisation was “lovely” but Revel Horwood said her frame was “occasionally a bit iffy”.

This weekend the couples danced to secure their place at Blackpool next Saturday where they will perform in the famous Tower Ballroom.

Strictly Come Dancing: The Results airs at 7.15pm on BBC One on Sunday.