Strictly's Ellie breaks down in tears after exit as Johannes takes swipe as past partners

Strictly Come Dancing star Ellie Taylor and Johannes Radebe gave their first interview on Monday after the pair became the ninth couple to bow out of the competition.

Appearing on spin-off It Takes Two, Ellie was reduced to tears when the pair were shown a highlight reel of their ten weeks in the competition, which came to an end during the results show on Sunday.

Ellie assured host Janette Manrara they were ‘tears of joy’ as she reached for the tissues in the BBC Two studio.

She said: “When you look bad through all the stuff we’ve done, I can't believe I did ten dances live on TV. I told myself throughout my life that I can't dance. And to see that, it’s just really nice.”

Janette then turned to Ellie’s professional dancer partner Johannes to ask what the best part of the series was for him.

Ellie was reduced to tears when the pair were shown highlights of their ten weeks (BBC)

Johannes became emotional himself as he then replied: “The highlight of my series would be her.”

In an apparent glancing blow at Johannes' past partners, who have been John Whaite, Caroline Quentin and Catherine Tyldesley, he then added: “Not once have I had to reach out to my therapist this season. You know what I mean?

“That’s down to Ellie. I loved every single moment with you – I really have. The best part of my series was this woman, so thank you.”

Janette then asked Ellie who she hoped would lift the Glitterball trophy this year, which left her saying she was plumping for Helen Skelton after the pair became close during the filming of the ballroom show.

Johannes became emotional himself as he replied: “The highlight of my series would be her.” (BBC)

She said: “I think there’s some wonderful people left. I would love for Helen to. She’s my bestie and I think it would be a wonderful end of the year for her.

“She’s worked so hard and she’s really blossomed. I’ve loved watching her.”

The pair performed a Jive to Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison on Saturday night, but landed bottom of the leaderboard with a score of 25.

Ellie assured host Janette Manrara they were ‘tears of joy’ (BBC)

Once the public vote had been taken into account, Ellie and Johannes found themselves in the dreaded dance off for the first time, going up against Fleur East and Vito Coppola.

The two couples performed once again, but the judges voted unanimously to save Fleur and Vito, sending Ellie and Johannes home just one week shy of the quarter final.

When asked about her time on the show, Ellie told host Tess Daly: “I’m going to be a cliché machine now, but it’s been everything and more.

“I never in a million years expected to be in for this long and to experience it so fully.”