Strictly Come Dancing fans were left cringing just moments into the show on Saturday night as the opening performance failed to impress – with one calling the routine in question a "low point" for the show.
Viewers will be aware that routines are based not only around a certain type of dance or a chosen track but also, often, a theme too. Normally at the very start of the performance the couples act out something linked to their routine and on Saturday this was no different, reports the Mirror.
Former Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds and professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin were first up on the show, performing a salsa to I Love Your Smile by Shanice. The pair revealed their 'story' was based on going to the dentist, with Ellie having a crush on her patient Nikita because of his smile.
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As the performance began there was a dentistry set-up which the pair acted out around before dancing. But viewers tuning into the episode, which was the fourth week of the latest series, slammed the "ridiculous" and "bizarre" story for their routine.
One tweeted: "I’m really not liking these stupid storylines. That song has nowt to do with the dentist It’s just to waste time particularly if they aren’t good." A second said: "Shoehorning in a trip to the dentist because the music is I love your smile is a low point, even for #strictly!"
Another fan wrote: "The ‘story’ behind these dances are ridiculous. A dentist? Just do the bloody dance." Meanwhile a fourth fan tweeted: "Why do the dances need a theme? Especially one as bizarre as a dentist dancing a salsa?"
There were also fears that fellow contestant Will Mellor wouldn’t be able to perform at all on the night after he attended training on Monday only to feel too unwell to continue and he needed to head home to rest where he had been "laid up ever since".
Posting on his Instagram and speaking to his 372,000 followers the actor said in a video this week: "First of all, I want to apologise for the way I sound, I have not been well at all this week.
"I went into training Monday and I just had to go home because I was feeling poorly and I've been laid up ever since." The star continued: "I got a bug, virus, whatever you want to call it and I was aching all over, it's horrible. If you've got it out there, I feel your pain because a lot of it is going around this time of year, these flu variants.
"I've just done Strictly It Takes Two and a lot of people have been commenting saying: 'You sound really poorly,' so I wanted to just say thanks for your comments but I probably sound worse than I am because I've coughed my throat out.
"But yeah, I went into training for the first time today just to do a couple of hours because I've got to perform on Saturday night live so let's just hope I can get through it." Thankfully Will was well enough to perform on the night.
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