Anton Du Beke addresses Amanda Abnington exit

Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke believes Amanda Abbington had the potential to reach the final if she hadn’t left the competition for week five.

The actress missed Saturday night’s show due to medical reasons with many believing she’d make a return with dance partner Giovanni Pernice the following week.

However, during the week it was revealed on BBC’s It Takes Two she has officially left the show.

On Wednesday’s instalment of This Morning, hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary were discussing Eddie Kadi’s elimination before mentioning the 49-year-old.

Alison said: “Amanda! I couldn’t believe she was leaving as well.”

READ MORE Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud on ‘stand-out’ moments from Channel 4 show

Agreeing, Anton replied: “Yes, that’s terribly sad because she was terrific! Could’ve made it all the way to the final.”

As the show played a snippet of Amanda and Giovanni’s last performance, the Strictly judge was still in awe with her routine.

He continued: “I thought she was very, very strong. Look at her, amazing. Maybe she could come back?”

Although the reason for her departure is yet to be revealed, she took to Instagram to share a statement with her followers about her decision.

Don’t miss…
Dick Strawbridge addresses decision not to ‘get involved’ in Chateau backlash[VIDEO]
Strictly Come Dancing icon set to return to BBC show years after exit[STRICTLY]
Here’s where the cast of Fawlty Towers are now 44 years after the final episode[INSIGHT]

• Advert-free experience without interruptions.
• Rocket-fast speedy loading pages.
• Exclusive & Unlimited access to all our content.

She wrote: “I did not come to this decision easily or lightly but for personal reasons, I am unable to continue.

“It was an absolute joy working with my fellow contestants, they are a beautiful, hardworking and talented group of people who I love and who I will miss seeing every Friday and Saturday and competing alongside.

“I want to thank the incredible production team and everyone on Strictly who looked after me and who are so kind and caring. It’s a wonderful bunch of people and I’ll miss all of them.”

The actress continued to mention she was sad to no longer be able to go any further in the competition before thanking people for their votes and support.

The last performance Amanda and Giovanni performed was the Foxtrot which earned her an impressive score of 31 from the judges.

Amanda was one of the celebrities who remained consistently towards the top of the leaderboard with her lowest score of 29 still putting her second in week one.

After last week’s performances, actor Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin are currently at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 39, the highest of the series so far.

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday on BBC One from 6.40pm.

Source: Read Full Article