Strictly icon supports 'underdog' Pete Wicks: 'He's doing something right'

Pete Wicks pictured with Strictly pro partner Jowita Przystal - (BBC)

Brendan Cole has sung the praises of Pete Wicks after nobody, including the former TOWIE star himself, thought he would get this far in the competition.

Despite finding himself at the bottom of the leaderboard most weeks, Wicks, 38, has so far managed to avoid the dreaded dance-off and clearly has a dedicated fanbase who have been voting to keep him in.

While he’s the bookies favourite to be eliminated next, former Strictly pro Cole doesn’t think he should be discounted just yet,

Speaking to The Standard on behalf of Sky Vegas, Cole - who served as a professional dancer on the hit BBC dance competition from from 2004 until 2018 - said: “[Pete Wicks] must have [the support from the majority of viewers] to avoid the dance-off for this long when he is one of the less-abled of the dancers. Comments that Craig [Revel Horwood] make will only add fuel to the fire.

“If people get behind the underdog and the one that is last on the leaderboard, he's doing something right. I thought he might have been in trouble last week because his dance was quite solid – there wasn't any comedy in it – but he was still last on the leaderboard.

Brendan Cole said Pete Wicks has done well to get this far as one of the ‘less-abled’ dancers in the competition (PA Media)

“Once you've done a really good dance and you're still at the bottom, people tend to stop voting, so he's done very well.”

He also defended Montell Douglas after the judges chose to save her from her third dance-off, arguing she has “outperformed everybody she’s been up against”.

The Gladiators star, 38, and pro dancer Johannes Radebe, 37, went head-to-head with EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, 30, and his partner Michelle Tsiakkas, 29, last weekend.

Despite it being Borthwick’s first time in the dance-off, the judges unanimously chose to keep Douglas and to send him home.

Brendan Cole also defended Montell Douglas after she was saved by the judges from her third dance-off (BBC/Guy Levy)

“I've had it before with Lisa Snowdon – we were in the dance-off [lots of] times – it's awful, but you pick yourself up, you go out, smash the dance-off, and hopefully stay in the competition,” Cole added. “It's there as a nice little buffer, otherwise, she probably would have gone home five weeks ago, and we wouldn't have seen the amazing stuff that she's actually been able to do.”