James Bye has shared his thoughts on Strictly Come Dancing after he became the fifth celebrity to be voted off the BBC One dance competition. The EastEnders actor and his professional partner Amy Dowden bowed out of the BBC One dance contest during Sunday night's results show (October 30) following the show's Halloween special.
James who plays Martin Fowler in the BBC One soap, found himself in the dreaded dance-off against singer and broadcaster Fleur East. The soap star ended up under a red light after his Charleston to Bumble Bee by LaVern Baker.
The 38-year-old was dressed as a beekeeper while Welsh dancer Amy performed while dressed as a bee. And despite pulling of a lift he had not been able to nail during dress run, James placed bottom of the scoreboard and had to re-perform the routine in the dance-off.
Meanwhile, Fleur and her professional partner Vito Coppola re-performed their salsa routine to Beyonce’s Break My Soul with judge Motsi Mabuse praising her power as a woman on the dancefloor. After both couples had danced for the second time, it was a unanimous decision by the judges to save Fleur and send James home.
But after remaining quiet on Sunday evening, James has since reacted to his exit on social media. "I just wanted to send a little message to everybody because I've had some incredible support over the weekend and it's been a crazy couple of months," he said in a video posted to his Instagram page on Monday (October 31).
"So I wanted to say thank you to every single one of you that took the time to either vote for Amy and I or just send us a message because I think sometimes people don't think we read the messages but I can promise you, I read every single one of them."
He went on: "There were times when your messages really helped me through tough days and I want to thank you again for that." He then moved on to his loved ones who have been supporting his journey from home or on the sidelines in the audience like his wife, Victoria.
"You guys don't see a lot of that but the support behind the scene is what gets everyone through this process because it's full-on thing to do," he said before praising Victoria, who appeared mid-filming the video, for having to be a solo parent during his time on the hit show.
"Without you, I wouldn't have been able to do it and all the grandparents out there, we had a lot of support from them," he sweetly added. Attention then turned to Amy who he said was "amazing from the outset." He said the pair got on from the get-go and added: "She made this Strictly journey what it was for me. Without her, I definitely wouldn't have been able to enjoy it as much as I did."
He said they'll "stay in touch forever" because the Welsh professional dancer is "an absolutely blinder." James ended his post by thanking his fans and supporters again, saying he had the "best time".
And the comments soon came flooding in, starting with one from the official EastEnders account. Their message said: " You’re still the winner in our eyes @jimmybye!" Kym Marsh wrote: "What a guy! Miss you already." Responding to the post filmed in James' family kitchen, Helen Skelton replied: "Same kitchen colour as me and obviously, we miss you etc."
But Strictly viewers had already shared how they felt James had been 'robbed', pointing out Fleur made mistakes in the dance-off. Flocking to social media, @lisamarks said: "James’s bee costume nonsense is the same as Richie’s Lion King nonsense. He’s probably going home. #Strictly."
@jlb26_ tweeted: "Why is amy a bumblebee like could they not think of ANYTHING halloween inspired to give them as a theme. They’ve been completely screwed over with this #strictly."@ChristineCarr added: "Terrible song and not Halloween theme but great lifts. Think that will put James in danger tonight… #Strictly."
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