Les Dennis Leaves Strictly Come Dancing After First Dance-Off Of The 2024 Series

Les Dennis has become the first celebrity to be eliminated from the new series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Over the weekend, all 15 of this year’s contestants and their professional partners performed live for the second time.

The former Family Fortunes host’s Samba failed to impress the judges on Saturday, and he once again landed at the bottom of the leaderboard with just 15 points (including a two from Craig Revel Horwood).

During Sunday’s results show, it was revealed that Les and his partner Nancy Xu had landed in the first dance-off of the series, alongside radio presenter Nikita Kanda and Gorka Marquez.

After all four couples performed again, the judges made the unanimous decision to save Nikita, meaning that Les was sent home.

Fortunately, the comedy performer took it all in his stride, telling presenter Tess Daly: “I’ve had the best time, [Nancy] has been amazing, a great teacher, she’s really put me through my paces. [Nancy], I did as well as I could for you, I hope!

“That lot up there, I’m going to miss you so much. I really appreciate and understand the judges’ point of view, thank you so much.”

“I hope I’ve entertained, that’s what I came here for,” he added. “Strictly is the best and the people who put this on, you’re just all amazing!”

Next week will see the remaining 14 contestants paying tribute to some Hollywood classics with Strictly’s annual Movie Week special.

The full list of songs and dances will be released later this week, but among the films being celebrated include The Sound Of Music, Men In Black and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Strictly returns on Saturday night at 6.20pm.