Tom Dean and Toyah Willcox face first dance-off

Until now, it’s all been fun and games.

But on Sunday night, the Strictly Come Dancing competition started for real – with two contestants facing the first dreaded dance-off to decide their fate, following a public vote.

Three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean and his professional dancing partner Nadiya Bychkova squared off against popstar Toyah Willcox and her partner Neil Jones, with both couples performing their routines again before the judges delivered their verdicts.

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In the end, it was 24-year-old Dean who departed the dancefloor, after his cha cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fire fell short of Willcox’s jive to Nutbush City Limits by Ike and Tina Turner.

Only Anton Du Beke chose to save Dean, with all three other judges voting to save Willcox, 66.

Speaking to host Tess Daly after the verdict, Dean said he wished he could have “gone further and done more dances”.

“I’ve had the best time [over] the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible,” he said.

“I’ve had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer. We’ll still go out for loads of brunches, I’m sure.”

His partner Bychkova added that Dean was “a true gentleman”, and that he had taught her “how to work really hard and how to put everything in”.

On Saturday, all 15 couples took to the dancefloor.

Dean and Bychkova stepped out in sparkly fringed outfits, but Bychkova suffered a wardrobe malfunction causing her to stumble slightly. In the end, the pair received a total score of 20.

Comedian Chris McCausland, the show’s first blind contestant, performed a foxtrot with his partner Dianne Buswell to Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by The Tams, which went down well.

Head judge Shirley Ballas gave him a standing ovation and called him “an example to every celebrity upstairs when it comes to footwork”.

DIY SOS star Nick Knowles also managed what Ballas called an “absolutely amazing” performance, despite only 16 hours of rehearsal time following an injury earlier this week.

But it was Love Island star Tasha Ghouri who topped the leaderboard.

She and dance partner Aljaž Škorjanec received the first scores of nine in the latest series, for their Viennese waltz to Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore.

Host Claudia Winkleman later pointed out that Ghouri’s father had been in tears in the audience while watching her performance.

Other highlights included JLS star JB Gill and his partner Amy Dowden’s cha cha, which landed them a score of 27, and opera singer Wynne Evans and partner Katya Jones’ Viennese waltz.

Willcox and Jones remain at the bottom of the leaderboard for the second week in a row.

More than six million people tuned in for Saturday night’s live show on BBC One.

This year’s series follows a rocky few months for Strictly, with a number of former contestants making allegations about their time on the show.

The BBC launched an investigation after actress Amanda Abbington claimed her former dance partner Giovanni Pernice had behaved abusively towards her, which he has denied.

Last week, the BBC’s director general Tim Davie refused to give a date for when its report would be published, but insisted: “We’re pretty close to the end of that work.”

The BBC has responded to the complaints by making changes behind the scenes. From this year, there are chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, and there are also two new dedicated welfare producers.

It has always insisted it would always take any issues seriously and act when made aware of inappropriate behaviour.