Strictly Come Dancing fans were united in their outrage on Sunday night as Dr Punam Krishan was eliminated from the competition. The medic and her partner Gorka Marquez performed their Tango again in the dance-off, but were ultimately sent home in favour of Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu, who reprised their Paso Doble.
Despite it being Dr Punam’s first time in the dance-off, while Shayne had been in this position before, the judges opted to save the former X Factor star. Head judge Shirley Ballas also revealed that she would have chosen Shayne to stay in the show if it came down to her.
However, viewers took to Twitter to express their disagreement with the decision, with many feeling that Dr Punam was “robbed” of her place in the competition, reports the Mirror.
One fan wrote: “Punam was absolutely robbed. At least she danced. Gorka should have her faffing about on the spot #SCD #StrictlyComeDancing #Strictly.”
Another commented: “Punam was absolutely robbed on #strictly shane did f**k all the whole dance.”
Someone else added: “I thought Punam should have stayed. I felt that she improved on ‘yesterdays’ dance,”
Many fans were left feeling frustrated and disappointed by the decision, with one viewer writing: “Absolutely the wrong decision.”
Another person reeled: ” I’m really going to miss Punam and Gorka. She should be so proud of herself.”
Speaking about her departure, Punam told host Tess Daly: “I am really proud of myself. You know, I’ve taken on something that’s so out of my comfort zone. The one thing that I’ve very much learnt is to say yes more and that there is no point in your life when you can stop learning new skills.
“I’ve learnt more than dancing, I’ve learnt so much from Gorka. Everyone’s been so incredible and it’s just memories that I’ll take home forever and I am very proud. I’ve made my family very proud, I’m just really grateful.”
Her celebrity dancer Gorka Marquez quickly expressed his pride for his partner, describing their journey as “incredible.”
The pro said: “She’s a GP and a Mum. She had never danced before and I think she improved week by week. I think she is truly what the show is about, someone who doesn’t have experience in the performance world came here and learnt to dance.
“She wanted to do so well and worked so hard. Also I feel very proud and very honoured that we got to do a Bollywood dance, to represent your culture, show your culture to the world and open doors for so many people in your culture.”
Despite efforts, Dr Punam consistently scored towards the lower end of the leaderboard in recent weeks. Her best score in the competition was a total of 33 which she earned in week three
During the Halloween-themed special this weekend, the 41-year-old tackled a pirate performance and ended up with a score of 26, leaving her at the bottom of the leaderboard alongside comedian Chris McCausland.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday, November 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. on BBC One, with the results show on Sunday, November 3rd, at 7:20 p.m. on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.