Strictly is challenge for Anneka
ANNEKA Rice last night admitted her performance on Strictly Come Dancing was so bad she would have voted herself off the BBC One show.
The usually smiling star of Treasure Hunt and Challenge Anneka – who last night became the second celebrity to be eliminated – didn’t even know what dance she was attempting.
The 61-year-old mum of three took to the floor for a Charleston toWoo Hoo by the 5.6.7.8’s from the hit movie Kill Bill.
But Anneka – who earlier declared she had learned 11 dance moves during her time on the show – “slaughtered” the performance, according to the judges who awarded her and Kevin Clifton just 11 points.
It meant she and her pro partner were plunged into a danceoff with footballer David James and Nadiya Bychkova.
Afterwards Anneka admitted: “To be honest I would have saved David and Nadiya. We’ve worked really hard. I’m covered in bruises. Now I’ve got 11 and a half moves. My son is getting married next year and I’m determined to be able to shuffle on to the dance floor.”
The farcical routine saw reigning champion Kevin – whose girlfriend is last year’s winner Stacey Dooley – suffer his worst ever score and left the couple rock bottom of the leaderboard.
Jeopardy
Judge Bruno Tonioli joked: “This is what happened: you got the brief wrong. It was supposed to be Kill Bill and you did Slaughter The Charleston.”
Anneka shrugged: “I didn’t even know it was meant to be a Charleston.”
Fellow judge Craig Revel Horwood said the performance was “stopping and starting like a bad internet connection”. Anneka shot to fame wearing a tight jumpsuit as she jumped in and out of a helicopter in highoctane Eighties Channel 4 show Treasure Hunt.
Last night she donned a yellow and black tracksuit in a nod to actress Uma Thurman, who starred in the Tarantino film, but admitted Strictly had taken its toll – especially on Kevin.
She said: “There’s a point in the dance where I had to swizzle a stick into the air.
“It’s meant to land neatly, but in training it has landed in Kev’s eye and in my ear. So there was a lot of jeopardy.”
Emmerdale actor Kevin Fletcher, 35 – a last-minute replacement for Made In Chelsea’s injured Jamie Laing – and partner Oti Mabuse won the first 10 of this series with a spectacular Charleston.They are now the bookmakers’ favourites.