Tonight's Strictly Come Dancing saw the couples battle for a place at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. The ballroom at the tower has not been used for three years following the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Strictly stars lined up to show off their dancing talent to the judges, including Leeds' Helen Skelton. Helen and her dancing partner Gorka did a salsa, a difficult dance but one that has the wow factor.
Countryfile presenter Helen's practice paid off with her and Gorka scoring an impressive 32, with eight points coming from each of the judges. Fans took to social media to praise her performance, saying just how far she has come since the beginning of the competition.
Read More: Strictly Come Dancing's Helen Skelton shares sneak peak of her and Gorka's sexy salsa
On Friday, Helen shared a sneak peak with her 354k followers at her salsa, the clip was originally posted by a Helen and Gorka fan page on Instagram with the caption: "Their salsa is looking SO good. Cannot wait till Saturday", the former Blue Peter star then re-shared the clip to her stories.
Their practice worked as the judges and hosts praised her attitude with one of the judges, Oti Mabuse saying: "The solo parts were fantastic." and despite Craig's pantomime villian act, even he said that he "Really loved it and it was really well done."
On Twitter, viewers heaped praise on Skelton, saying she has got the winning factor, though some were critical of her overall performance, saying she wasn't as relaxed as she could have been.
@Sandy said: "Love Helen"
@betty said: "This the song I’ve been waiting for someone to do a salsa too: perfect track! I felt I was in Latin America watching that dance! Helen is just a different woman from her 1 st few weeks: she makes it look soo easy & effortless : 10 from me !"
@Kay said: "Helen's growing in confidence; good for her"
@Andi said: "Massive improvement in Helen and she has lovely legs. Shame about the end."
@Joseph said: "Helen really has come a long way performance-wise since her Paso."
Some also criticised the judging, saying that Helen deserved more points following a few mistakes by Kym Marsh.
@Colin said: "Hang on, Kym cocks up badly and it’s glossed over … Helen delivers big time and it’s all hesitancy from judges. Harrumph"
@James said: " Helen Skelton was on fire. That was a good dance. She deserves a vote tonight in my opinion I don't know what the judges were watching"
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@EK46 said: "A bit too 'performed' for me but the lifts were fab & she just wasn't loose enough at points. I really like her though."
Last week, Helen addressed some mistakes she made in Saturday's show that missed her a rare score of 10 from judge Craig Revel Horwood.
She said: "The last thing he said to me was, 'Helen make sure that hat's on' and I was like yeah yeah fine. He always says stop talking to everybody and just concentrate.
"I was like I've got it, that hat's on. And the hat wasn't on."
Rylan was also joined on the sofa by Kym Marsh and her partner Graziano who danced to Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol in this week's show.
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