Chris Appleton eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing

Chris Appleton and professional partner Amy Dowden were eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday, October 4, after judges voted to save Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu in the first dance-off of the 2026 series. Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke each backed Winstone and Gu, giving them the majority and sending Appleton and Dowden out of the competition. Craig Revel Horwood said he would also have voted to save them if his vote had been needed. The result followed the programme’s Movie Week performances. Appleton and Dowden repeated their cha-cha to I’ll Be Ready from Baywatch, while Winstone and Gu performed their cha-cha to Oh, Pretty Woman from Pretty Woman. The judges then chose which couple should continue. The two pairs entered the dance-off after judges’ scores from the opening two live shows were combined with the first public vote. There had been no public vote during the opening live show. The programme used the combined scores and votes to determine the couples facing elimination, but published accounts did not provide vote totals or explain how the public votes affected the final ranking. The elimination marked the first departure of the series.