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Talya Honebeek & Sonia Sharma

Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman confirms return of popular Couple's Choice feature

Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman has confirmed that a popular feature will be returning to the show next week.

On Sunday night, radio personality Richie Anderson and singer Fleur East went head-to-head in the dance-off. Judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all voted to save Fleur, which meant Richie was sent home.

Earlier on in the BBC show, Claudia revealed that the Couple's Choice category would be back. While speaking to Tyler West and Dianne Buswell, who topped the week three leaderboard with their Charleston, the host announced they would be performing the first Couple's Choice routine of the series next week.

Read More: Strictly Come Dancing's Motsi Mabuse takes aim at public as 'heart-wrenching' result sparks anger

The popular feature sees the contestants choose any dance style to perform. Each couple only gets one opportunity to dance a Couple's Choice routine (although they can of course perform it again if they reach the final), and they are often some of the highest-scoring dances of the series, reports Birmingham Live.

The announcement comes just days after Strictly fans expressed concern that the feature had been axed, with some claiming the first Couple's Choice routines usually come in weeks two or three. Posting to Reddit, one fan asked: "In the last three series, we’ve had Couples Choice come in in either Week 2 or 3.

"With the dances now having been released for this week, it appears that there’s no Couples Choice yet this year. This raises the question: do we think the BBC have axed Couples Choice due to the largely negative perception last year?"

Other Reddit users responded, with many saying they would doubt producers would drop the category given Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice's Bafta-winning Couple's Choice routine last year. Others claimed that using the category so early on in the competition is a "cop-out" and should be saved for later in the show.

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