Strictly star Katya Jones concerned her fans after last week's appearance on the BBC One dance show, where she was overcome with emotion after completing her dance with Mike Bushell. And her celebrity dance partner has now revealed that they were both struggling before the live show as he kept forgetting the dance routine, so much so that they were both worried about the outcome. Talking to the Mirror, the BBC Breakfast sports presenter said: "Last week was the toughest emotionally. I had a bad cold and wasn't at the races a lot of the time. The dress rehearsal was so bad no one would look me in the eye. Katya said: 'Don't think about it, don't watch it.' I kept missing the tenth step and the next 30 seconds of the routine went to pot."
Strictly stars Katya Jones and Mike Bushell were struggling to perfect their Quickstep in rehearsals
Mike continued: "On the live show, I came up to the tenth step like a horse approaching a fence, in slow motion. I was thinking: 'Here we go, here we go.' Then the foot landed and from that moment I knew the rest of the dance would follow. So at the end, Katya realised for the first time ever we'd pulled the dance-off. It was like being 3-0 down at home to a non-league football team then coming back in the last minute. The relief and release of emotions was intense." The Strictly contestant also brushed off any rumours that Katya had been feeling fragile since her divorce from Neil Jones, and praised the pair for maintaining a good relationship on the show. "Crikey, no. I've not noticed anything. Neil is so supportive, so I haven't felt that. Katya's got so much energy, she's absolutely on fire," he said.
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Katya was overwhelmed with happiness when Mike pulled out all the stops for their dance
Katya and Mike had received their first nine of the series on Saturday night after dancing the Quickstep to Come on Eileen. Katya was so overwhelmed by Mike's improved performance that she started to cry, and later explained to her fans just what it meant to her. She wrote on Twitter: "It wasn't about scores for me, I was endlessly proud of @mikebreakfast. But what?? These scores! He deserves every single point! Thank you for being so dedicated, for trusting me and making me so proud!"
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The pro dancer paid tribute to her dance partner ahead of week five's dance
On Saturday night, Katya and Mike are getting ready to enter week five of the competition and will be dancing the Samba to Jump On It by The Sugarhill Gang. Ahead of their performance, Katya shared a photo on Instagram of the pair in dress rehearsals, and paid tribute to her dance partner. She wrote: "Just to say a massive well done to @mikebushellofficial , you’ve already made it to week 5 with your hard work,commitment enthusiasm but of course not without the support of all of you guys! Thank you so much! Let’s have fun tonight! And see what happens!"
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