Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton defiantly defended himself on Twitter this weekend after a naysayer wrote an unkind comment about him online. The pro dancer retweeted a message from a Strictly viewer who had written: "There's just no getting rid of Kevin Clifton, is there?!", and simply responded: "No." The comment was referring to the fact that Kevin had stepped in to replace injured Neil Jones for the second week running so that his celebrity dance partner Alex Scott could still dance in the competition. Many of Kevin's loyal fans jumped to his defense too, with one writing: "Just no need for it. Kevin is doing a kind thing for a fellow professional," while another added: "Tell them Kev – you're a proper gentleman."
Strictly star Kevin Clifton defended himself from a Twitter troll
Just before Saturday's performance – which saw Alex and Kevin dance the American Smooth to Ain't No Mountain High Enough – Neil gave his fellow pro some words of advice backstage, which he filmed and posted onto Instagram. Kevin asked him: "Right Neil, words of advice?" to which he replied: "Don't go wrong, and literally do everything you have been doing and you guys are going to smash it! Team Red all the way!"
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Kevin replaced injured Neil Jones for the second week running
Neil's words had a great impact on Kevin and Alex, who impressed the judges, even notoriously hard-to-please Craig Revel Horwood. "This accidental partnership is working wonders," he told them. The pair received a total score of 31 points from the panel, and Kevin was quick to praise Alex on her dancing, as well as Neil for choreographing the routine. On Twitter, he wrote: "What a great performance from @alexcott2 last night. Very proud! Improving so much. Thank you for letting me dance with you and thank you @mr_njonesofficial for your wicked choreography and direction."
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Ahead of Saturday's dance, Neil had urged his fans not to focus on which pro was dancing with Alex, following the debate from viewers who thought that Gorka Marquez should have been given the chance to dance, since he wasn't given a partner this year. Neil wrote in a statement on Instagram: "Thank you for all your supportive messages… Sorry I can't answer you all. Please let's not focus on which pro should dance with @alexscott2 as they are all great and I don't like to hear a bad word against any of them. Let's just enjoy the show and I will get fit again so I can dance with my fantastic PARTNER."
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