Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas made an emotional appeal on BBC’s The One Show last night (December 13) to fans to cast their votes for finalists Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec.
The 64-year-old judge voiced her deep appreciation for the last four celebrity couples vying for the glitterball trophy on this season’s Strictly final tomorrow evening (December 14).
During a chat with The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, Shirley didn’t hold back on praising the dynamic duo of Tasha and Aljaz. Nonetheless, Roman brought up that despite being high scorers, the couple had found themselves battling it out in the dance-off twice.
He queried: “The highest-scoring couple, but they’ve been in the dance-off twice. So what are you wanting from them in the final?”
Shirley gave a heartfelt response, saying: “Well, being in the dance-off twice but strong from the very very beginning, and all I can say is if the people at home are really enjoying their dancing, then they must pick up the phone and vote,” reports the Express.
“She has landed in the bottom two twice, but it’s given a resilience, it’s given a strength of mind and I think she’ll be going into tomorrow’s final and she’ll be taking no prisoners because I know each and every one of them are not leaving without that trophy, so it’s going to be extremely difficult.”
Shirley made an impassioned plea, saying: “But the people at home, please do your job because your job is just a vote.”
Tasha, a Love Island star, recently shared her perspective on the dance-off, choosing to view it as a positive experience.
As the final approaches on Saturday, she reflected: “I always say I never look at the dance-off as a negative experience. If anything is added to my experience, I’ve had that journey now, the ups and downs.”
Tasha revealed her conversation with Aljaz, saying: “I said to Aljaz I’d be happy to do the Waltz with you again, or the Argentine Tango it’s another opportunity to dance with you again. So I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s just go for it!’
“And I remember in the semi-final last week, the Salsa especially, we opened the show, and I had so much fire and butterflies in my belly because I was like, ‘I’m not ready to go at the last hurdle,’ I really wanted to get over it.”
Strictly Come Dancing final airs Saturday 14 at 6pm on BBC One.