The Strictly professional sent a powerful message to fans of the BBC dance contest during Saturday night’s live show
Nikita Kuzmin took a moment during the Strictly Come Dancing live show on Saturday night (December 13) to address the wave of ‘hate’ aimed at his celebrity partner Amber Davies. Amber, 29, was not originally supposed to be a contestant on this series of Strictly.
The former Love Island winner, who has since starred in popular musicals such as Pretty Woman, 9 to 5 and The Great Gatsby, was brought in at the eleventh hour after fellow Love Island champion, Dani Dyer, had to withdraw due to a severe injury sustained during rehearsals.
Amber’s dance and performance background immediately raised some eyebrows when she joined Strictly, especially following the recent controversy surrounding another stand-in contestant, Lewis Cope, and his West End history. Both Amber, set to take the lead in Legally Blonde next year, and Lewis have received perfect scores from the judges at different stages of the competition.
Therefore, it came as a surprise when both found themselves in the bottom two last week. Amber remained in the competition by unanimous decision, having achieved a perfect 40/40 for her Charleston the previous Saturday.
Amber and Nikita are aiming to come back from their dance-off setback by reaching the Strictly final. After their second performance of the weekend, a Couple’s Choice routine to Fly Me to The Moon, Nikita, who has previously reached the final with Layton Williams, took a moment to defend Amber, reports Chronicle Live.
Facing Amber, an emotional Nikita said: “You’ve had so much hate every single day from the moment you joined…you’ve had so much hate this week and you came into the training room every single day with a big smile and just ignoring everybody.
Nikita continued, stating that Amber cared ‘more about him’ than herself. He concluded: “I think sometimes and I speak to the audience at home, just guys, please, please be kind, because you (Amber) don’t deserve any of that.”
