Tony Adams bid a "frosty farewell" to his Strictly partner Katya Jones as he pulled out of the dancing show, a body language expert has said.
Tony and Katya were placed in the bottom by public, alongside Tyler West and Dianne Buswell, but before the dance off, it was announced that Tony was leaving Strictly due to an injury.
Body language expert Judi James says there were signs of a frosty farewell as Tony spoke of his time on the show and described Katya as an "exceptional human being."
Katya then began paying tribute to the former footballer, before he interrupted her, leading Katya to say: "And yet again, interrupting me when I was talking."
Tony then laughed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Delivering her verdict, Judi exclusively told the Mirror: "Everyone knew that Tony wouldn’t survive a dance-off so it was a foregone conclusion that he’d be going home tonight before he dramatically pulled out with an injury.
"What was even more dramatic were the non-verbal and verbal signals of his sign-off, which was a frosty farewell to his partner Katya."
Judi went on: "Final speeches on Strictly are always a gush-fest, with celebs and pro dance partners claiming they will be ‘friends for life’ as they hug and cry and throw lavish compliments at each other.
"As Tony stood to talk to Tess though he appeared to lean away from Katya, whose rictus smile stayed frozen on her face while he said it had been ‘tough’ and that he ‘cried for the first month’. Tony made signals of distress at the memory as he puffed and rubbed at his eyebrows as he uncoupled from Katya altogether, dropping his arm from her shoulders."
Judi said Tony's message to "promote mental health and addiction awareness was touching and eloquent, but when he got to Katya he said ‘I’d better mention this one’ poking a cursory index finger in her direction.
"His only words about the woman who had shouted and pushed him to this stage in the contest were words that could be read in many different ways, not necessarily complimentary.’ She’s an exceptional human being’ was Tony’s comment."
Turning to Katya's remarks, Judi said: "Katya started a few words about Tony but he cut in, clearly annoying her. ‘And yet again he interrupted me when I was talking’ was her shouted complaint and by this stage it was looking better that they had come to the end of their partnership.
"Katya pushed Tony all the way with her infamous ‘team talks’ and her shouting and the judges pointed out how hard he had worked and how many hours he’d put in. By Saturday night he was looking exhausted, like a husk."
Judi pointed out that "Tony showboated alone on the dancefloor tonight instead of swinging his partner round in one last few sad steps as most celebs do, and apart from one hug he was waving his arms for the rest of the dancers to join him for a group bundle."
