Strictly Come Dancing professional Nikita Kuzmin opened up about his emotional reaction to the second live performance with Ellie Simmonds last weekend.
The gold medallist Paralympian, 27, was apprehensive about tackling the Waltz on Saturday night’s Strictly Come Dancing but the pair wowed the judges.
Ellie was even spotted wiping away tears after receiving glowing feedback from the judging panel of Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
During Strictly’s spin-off It takes Two, Nikita explained the ‘adaptations’ the pair had to make to the dance, as Ellie is the first star to take part in the BBC dancing show with achondroplasia, which is a form of short-limbed dwarfism.
Celebs and pros are usually paired together based largely on height, though Ellie and Nikita will have an immediate challenge on their hands due to their difference in stature – Ellie's 4ft to Nikita's 5'9.
Nikita told host Rylan Clark: “There were adaptations. A million things we had to find, because there was nothing like this done before.”
He added on the dance: “It was all beautiful, but the special thing about it was the moment. It just felt like we’re doing something bigger than us. I couldn’t stop crying.”
Turning to Nikita on the sofa, Ellie replied: “It was so lovely to see you get emotional.”
Rylan noted the glowing feedback from the judges, as well as the fact that Shirley and Motsi gave the pair a standing ovation.
But Nikita admitted he couldn’t remember any of their notes, saying: “Honestly, both of us were so in that moment – and that moment was so big for both of us, that we didn’t hear any comments.
“We knew it was positive. I remember the final hug in the dance. We just closed our eyes and everything just went through.”
Rylan replied: “It was stunning. The judges loved it and people at home were eating it up.”
Matt Goss narrowly avoided being eliminated last weekend after he went head-to-head in the dreaded dance-off with Loose Women star Kaye Adams on Sunday night.
After both couples had danced a second time, the judges delivered their verdicts and Matt, who found fame in 80s pop group Bros, was saved by three of the members of the judging panel.
With three votes in favour of Matt, it meant they had won the majority vote and would be leaving the competition regardless, however head judge Shirley said she would have decided to save Kaye and Kai.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on October 8 at 6:30pm for Movie Week
