Strictly Come Dancing's Pete Wicks whispers heartbreaking apology to Jowita Przystał

Pete's Freddie Mercury performance was plagued by mistakes during his Icons week dance, with the judges enjoying his performance but recognising he 'carried on like a trooper'

Strictly Come Dancing 's Pete Wicks whispered a message to his dance partner Jowita after making multiple mistakes during their routine.

The 36-year-old reality star launched into his Freddie Mercury salsa for Strictly's much-loved Icons week, with him and Jowita Przystał, 30, dancing to Queen's hit Another One Bites The Dust. During one ambitious lift, he swung Jowita who came dangerously close to hitting the dance floor.

As she and Pete hugged at the end of their performance, Pete could be heard whispering a heartbreaking apology to Jowita. He could be heard saying: "I'm sorry, darling. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." Jowita reassured the TOWIE star, telling him everything was OK. But the judges picked up on his mistakes, and despite enjoying his routine, advised him he needs to "get better."

Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse gave their verdict. Head judge Shirley said: "You embraced the character of Freddie Mercury so, so well. I'm not going to overjudge this and I'll tell you why. You made quite a lot of mistakes, so it wouldn't be fair to, we all know you made mistakes we could see them. But what I was impressed with was how you picked it up. You carried on like a trooper, you did your lifts and thought I'm just going to get on with it and do the job."

She sweetly added: "May they vote for you because you were great." Craig said: "What a terrible shame. It lacked rotation, it lacked fluidity." Motsi added: "The dancing needs to get better." Anton Du Beke described the lifts as "spectacular", Craig Revel Horwood said it lacked "fluidity" and that the "timing was out," but said he "loved" the lifts. "The characterisation was brilliant," he added. Motsi Mabuse said he did a "great job" on the lifts.

Pete's score of 22 landed him at the bottom of the leaderboard, thanks to Craig's score of four, and the others giving him six each. Chatting with Claudia following his disappointing performance, Pete said he was 'honoured' to dance as Freddie, adding: "It's probably written in the stars, but I enjoyed it."

Later, whilst debriefing with Claudia Winkleman, Pete shared: "We've had a bit of a tough week. There's been injuries and all sorts this week but listen, we're still here, we got through it. What else can you do." Jowita described him as a "fighter" and said she was "proud" that he kept going in the dance.

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