Nick Knowles AXED from Strictly after landing in shock dance-off after series of disasters

STRICTLY Come Dancing said goodbye to Nick Knowles tonight after he became the fourth celebrity to be eliminated.

The DIY SOS star, 62, returned to the BBC dance competition on Saturday after a touch and go week and only had a few days to practise.

Nick and pro dancer Luba Mushtuk found themselves in the dance off against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu during the third results show of the series.

Last night, Shayne scored a total of 30 points and was seventh in the leaderboard, while Nick only received 21 points from the judges and was second from the bottom.

Both couples performed their routines again; Shayne and Nancy danced their Cha Cha to Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) by Sub Sub feat. Melanie Williams.

Nick and Luba then took to the dancefloor with their Charleston to Rain on the Roof from the film Paddington 2.

After both couples had danced for a second time, the judges delivered their verdicts.

Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all chose to save Shayne and Nancy.

With three votes in favour of Shayne and Nancy, they had won the majority vote – meaning Nick and Luba had been eliminated.

Head Judge Shirley Ballas also agreed and said she would have saved Shayne and Nancy.

When asked by co-host Tess Daly about his time on the show, Nick said: “I’ve really, really been surprised by how much I’ve loved doing it and by two things that happen.

“One is how much you care each week, and the other is how much you don’t want to let down your partner.

“The only reason I could do this is simply because of Luba’s changes, she’s been amazing.”

A tearful Luba said: “I’ve never met someone as determined as you, and I remember you saying that if you do your best, you’ll be very happy.

“I think you did more than your best. Thank you.”

When asked by Tess about his partner Luba, Nick said: “Luba’s been amazing and just been so fabulous every day.

“And I should say thank you also to all the background staff, the physios, all the people that have actually got me through this week, and to all of my fellow competitors who have been absolutely astounding, beautiful people.

“There are some amazing dancers up there, and I will love watching the rest of the series.”

Sunday’s Results Show also featured a special routine from our fabulous professional dancers to Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams, choreographed by Mandy Moore and starring Nikita Kuzmin and Karen Hauer as the leads.

Plus a show stopping musical performance of Everything’s Here and Nothing’s Lost from Snow Patrol.

The remaining 12 couples will take to the dancefloor next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday.

It comes after Strictly fans think Nick was given the sympathy vote last night.

One person remarked: “So Craig isn’t taking Nick’s lack of swivel this week as he hurt his knee, yet every week he goes in on Chris for “fingers” and lack of facial expressions? Is this BBC employee love-in ever going to STOP?”

A second said: “Not here for Nick basically get sympathy votes for a few weeks… defo amongst the worst few.”

And third commented: “I hope Nick recovers from his injury but its the second injury he’s had I honestly think he shouldn’t be there it’s not really fair on the other contestants.”

Nick’s future on the show had been hanging in the balance after he suffered two nasty injuries.

His most recent left him on crutches and forced the pair to miss Movie Week last weekend.

Prior to dancing, Nick revealed he had been looking forward to doing the routine for his 10-year-old son Eddie, whom he said was a huge fan of the Paddington movie.

Motsi said she was “100% sure” Knowles’s son was proud of him following the dance.

Nick was forced to pull out of last week’s live show after an accident during the dress rehearsal left him on crutches.

The star fell out of a jump and sustained an injury to his knee.

Prior to this, Nick had also hurt his shoulder while changing a car tyre away from show rehearsals.

Although he was able to struggle through that week’s dance, he did take part in several training sessions while wearing a sling.