It's finally Blackpool week and the stars of Strictly Come Dancing are gearing up for one of the most exciting nights of the competition. But no one is perhaps as excited as Karen Hauer, who is celebrating a Strictly first thanks to her celebrity partner, comedian Chris Ramsey. The professional dancer revealed that this year marks the first time she has made it to the Tower Ballroom since she joined the show in 2012 without appearing in a dance-off beforehand! And Chris was the first to thank her for not breaking this news to him before last Saturday night's show.
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Sharing the news on his Instagram Stories on Monday morning, Chris said on his way to rehearsals: "Big shout out to Karen. Karen revealed that this is the first time she has got to Blackpool without having been in the dance-off. Thank-you Karen for not telling me that at any point up until now cos I would have exploded under the pressure!" We definitely wouldn't blame him either; Karen has been partnered with some brilliant celeb partners over the years, including Charles Venn and Mark Wright, but still found herself in the bottom two ahead of Blackpool.
© Photo: BBCChris and Karen are heading to Blackpool
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Blackpool is a huge highlight in each series of Strictly, with couples aiming to reach Blackpool Week if not the final. As well as the springy dancefloor, each couple is given huge props, elaborate staging and lighting design and their very own backing dancers to help fill the huge dancefloor, which is the biggest stage the celebs will have danced on so far in the competition.
Chris has helped Karen reach Blackpool without being in a dance-off beforehand
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Last weekend saw the exit of BBC sports presenter Mike Bushell and Katya Jones, who were voted out of the competition after finding themselves in the bottom two for the fourth time. In a surprise turn of events, the dance-off veterans were joined by RuPaul's Drag Race judge Michelle Visage and her partner Giovanni Pernice, despite their American Smooth to Etta James' I Just Want To Make Love to You landing them in second place on Saturday's leaderboard.
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