It's been a dramatic week for Strictly Come Dancing, I hope the dancers can put it behind them

Last weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing episode provided no surprises but to make up for it a few more twists and turns have unfolded throughout the week.

I did expect Sam Quek and Montell Douglas to be in the dance off last Sunday - I found both their dances to be quite boring to be honest with you.

I also then expected Sam to be eliminated -I feel like Montell still has a lot more to give to the show where as Sam had sort of reached her point, I couldn’t see much more progression coming from her.

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But then as soon as the weekend was over, Strictly fans were hit with the first surprise of the week, as the BBC announced that professional dancer Amy Dowden - who collapsed after the Halloween week - would not be able to continue with the series due to a foot injury.

That really was sad news to hear, Amy was such a cheerful person to watch on screen and it was great to see her back out there dancing again after breast cancer forced her to take a break.

Whilst JB Gill and Lauren Oakley gave a fantastic performance last week, I don’t think the swap in professional dancers will do any favours to his chances of winning - I’m currently placing him in fourth place at a PUSH.

I don’t however think it will be JB’s turn to go next week, instead I think it will be the turn of either Montell Jordan or Shayne Ward - although if it’s the two of them in the dance off, I couldn’t guess who the judges would save.

Back to this week’s surprises however, a story broke only yesterday which was pretty shocking to Strictly fans - that BBC bosses want to scrap some of its best known professional dancers before the next series.

A TV insider told the Sun that bosses are looking to lose some of the “fading stars” and “of the five names in the mix almost all of them went out in the first half of the series”.

The Sun assumes these five names are the veteran dancers Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Karen Hauer, Gorka Marquez and Katya Jones, adding that whilst only the latter four have so far left the competition, Katya reportedly “angered bosses by being at the centre of the “gropegate” backfiring gag with singer Wynne Jones.”

I think the loss of these veteran professional dancers won’t affect the average viewer (myself included) but it will upset the show’s core fan base which would be a mistake considering how fans have stuck by Strictly despite the last year of bullying scandals. 

Elsewhere this week there were also reports that professional dancer Johannes Radebes is looking at leaving Strictly this year, after finding fame with other avenues, including his solo dance shows and a new role in Kinky Boots.

Johannes - who is still in this year’s competition with Montell - took to his Instagram yesterday to deny the rumours - declaring “it’s all lies, Liz Minalli lies” as he comically sang along to Dwin, The Stoic’s  ‘I Go Nowhere.’

I just hope all the stars can shut out the noise from all the gossipers this week and focus on what’s most important - giving us an excellent show this weekend!