Michelle Visage has become the eighth celebrity to leave Strictly Come Dancing 2019.
In a shock to many viewers, the RuPaul’s Drag Race judge and TV personality and her professional partner, Giovanni Pernice, were bottom of the leaderboard on Saturday night, scoring 32 points for their Couple’s Choice routine in Blackpool. They performed a Commercial/Street dance to Madonna’s classic track Vogue.
Once the judges’ scores were combined with their viewers’ votes, Michelle and Giovanni found themselves in the dreaded dance-off, alongside Saffron Barker and AJ Pritchard.
After both couples danced a second time, the judges gave their verdicts. Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Bruno Tonioli all voted to save Saffron and AJ, sending Michelle and Giovanni home. Head judge Shirley Ballas said she would also have voted to save Saffron and AJ.
When asked by presenter Tess Daly about her time on the show, Michelle said: “This whole experience has been amazing. At 51 years old and never danced in my life, I never thought I’d be able to do what I have done and to have such an incredible partner. To be here for my husband and my kids and the entire community, that’s why I did what I did. I am so honoured to be welcomed by my new friends here.”
Tess also asked Michelle about her professional partner Giovanni. She said: “Obviously I couldn’t have done it without him. He has been so amazing, so transformative. Just my rock and my best friend throughout this entire competition. He could take it as much as he could dish it, and I needed somebody like that. I’m going to miss seeing him every day. I would never have wanted to do this with anyone else.”
Giovanni said of Michelle: “You are wonderful. We laugh, we cry, we fight and we argue and we’ve done everything but I’ve loved every single second. I think you are inspirational and we did this dance and wanted to send a message. You are a phenomenal lady and I am so proud of everything we’ve done. I’m here to say thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Sunday night’s results show, recorded at the legendary Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, also featured a special group dance on a grand scale, along with a performance from Westlife, who sang their new single Hello My Love as well as a medley of their hits.
Strictly Come Dancing 2019 returns on Saturday 23 November 2019 at 7.00pm on BBC One, with the Results Show on Sunday 24th November at 7.15pm.
