Fleur East and Molly Rainford have been in so many dance-offs they have practically lost count.
But the feisty pair have told how that makes battling back to be in tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing final even more special.
And while Molly and her pro partner Carlos Gu are so thrilled they “haven’t stopped laughing” since being voted through by the viewers on Monday, Fleur and Vito Coppola agree it feels like a “miracle” to have made it so far.
CBBC star Molly, 22, now just wants to enjoy the final. She said: “We’ve had a rocky journey on this show. And I am so grateful for those bottoms because it really, really made me motivated to come back stronger.
“And the fact that we’ve got to this position and through the audience vote just means the absolute world.
“For me and Carlos, this week is all about just enjoying and taking every moment. I’m so proud of us for getting this far.”
She said she did not take the multiple dance-offs personally. “You just never know what people are voting for – they might love your dress that week,” she added.
Branding her a “survivor”, Carlos, 28, said he had watched her mature over the months of training, adding: “To see her grow up as a proper dancer, from a girl to a woman. I’m really happy that for this journey, I’m with her. That’s why it makes me very emotional.”
In the final they will perform their rumba, which they picked as their favourite dance, while the judges chose their quickstep to see again. Their show dance to Prince’s Kiss and 1999, will have lots of Latin vibes.
Molly said that winning would be “absolutely incredible”. “To go through that many dance-offs and win the show would be such a moment,” she said, laughing. “But I’m just so grateful to be here.”
Chuckling about her four dance-off appearances, Fleur admitted she and Vito Coppola, 40, are not expecting to win – but would give it their best shot.
“Right now, if we won it would be like a miracle because it has been a turbulent journey, hasn’t it?” she said. “When we reached Blackpool, it felt like we won, to be honest. Getting through to the final feels like an even bigger win.
“We just can’t believe it. We’ve been pinching ourselves all week. To actually win, I don’t even know what we would do.”
That said, Fleur, 35, and Vito remain the only couple to have scored a full house of 40 this series, for their Couple’s Choice in which she transformed into Beyonce. The performance, in Blackpool, was dedicated to her late father, Malcolm.
“The perfect score was incredible, but for us it was so amazing because we dedicated that to my family and it had a sentimental feeling behind it. I’m wearing my dad’s ring every day,” she said.
In the final they will do the Destiny’s Child number again, along with the judges’ pick of her samba and an ambitious show dance to Find Me by Sigma featuring Birdy.
Malcolm was a huge fan of the show before his death in 2020.
Fleur said he would have been so proud they had got to the final.
“I don’t know what he would do with himself,” she said. “He would be at every rehearsal, he would be at every live show, if he could get up on stage with us, he would.”
Strictly Come Dancing: The Final, BBC1, 7.05pm.
