He was unceremoniously booted off this year's Strictly Come Dancing, despite being one of the favourites to win the competition. But Aston Merrygold has revealed he still feels very much a part of the series and will now be showing his support to former X Factor competitor Alexandra Burke. Speaking exclusively to HELLO! Online at Winter Wonderland on Thursday, the JLS singer shared: "It has to be my long term friend Alexandra. She is killing it at the moment, and has done for the past couple of weeks."
Aston Merrygold was one of the Strictly's frontrunners
STORY: Craig Revel Horwood denies he's to blame for Aston's Strictly exit
Aston was previously the bookies' second favourite to win the coveted glitterball trophy. He was one of the highest-scoring celebrities every week, having topped the leaderboard twice, and his odds of elimination stood at 100-1. When asked about his shock departure, Aston replied: "I'm alright, I had the best time and I made some amazing friends - as you can see Brian Connolly is over there, we came here together tonight. For now it's about supporting everyone that's still in [the competition]. I have still got a lot of friends that are on the show now, so it's nice to be able to kind of sit back and throw the support because I know exactly what they are going through."
Aston and Janette lost out in a dance-off with Mollie and AJ
The judges chose to save Mollie King and AJ Pritchard rather than Aston and his dance partner Janette Manrara, and their shock elimination was hailed one of the biggest surprises in the show's history. Discussing head judge Shirley Ballas's decision, Aston insisted there are no hard feelings. "I am just happy that I did the show, at the end of the day the judges have their opinions," he answered honestly. "They gave their opinions and that was the outcome of it at the end of it."