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Simon Duke

Strictly judges vote leads to drama as Shirley has to use casting vote for first time this series

There was a nail-biting end to this weekend's Strictly results show when head judge Shirley Ballas had to use her casting vote for the first time this series.

After the judges scores from Saturday night were combined with the public vote, Jamie Laing and Clara Amfo landed in the bottom two, alongside their respective partners Karen Hauer an Aljaz Škorjanec.

This week's Strictly result saw a massive downturn in fortunes for Made in Chelsea star Jamie who was top of the leaderboard last week, while Clara's Saturday night jive to River Deep, Mountain High was littered with mistakes and saw her receive the lowest score from judges for the second week in a row.

Both couples upped their game in the dreaded dance-off, giving Shirley and her fellow judges Craig Revel-Horwood and Motsi Mabuse a tough task on deciding who to keep in the competition and who to send home.

After admitting it was a "really difficult one," Craig opted to save Clara and Aljaz, while Motsi tied the vote by saving Jamie and Karen, saying it was "one of the toughest decisions" she'd ever had to make.

That meant in fell on Shirley to make the deciding vote and she went for Jamie and Karen.

Gearing up to give her decision, Shirley told Strictly host Tess Daly: "This is a very difficult series as every couple is outstanding."

She said she went for Jamie and Karen after they convinced her "they had conviction."

And, unlike a few weeks ago, when many viewers raged at Shirley for saying she'd have kept Max George in over Maisie Smith, the majority agreed with her decision, although they were sad to see Strictly super-fan Clara go.

One tweeted: "As much as I love Clara and her energy, well done to Shirley for calling it right. She made more mistakes on Saturday in week 6 and missed a step in the dance off, right call," and another reacted: "I'm SO sad to see Clara go but unfortunately I think it was the right decision by Shirley."

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