Rose Ayling-Ellis is taking some time out from EastEnders to focus on Strictly Come Dancing as she and professional partner Giovanni Pernice remain the hot tip to win.
Rose, who plays Danny Dyer's on-screen daughter in the BBC soap, has been well favoured by bookies right from the moment that the Strictly line-up was confirmed this year.
And, after initially being neck and neck at the top of the betting with McFly star Tom Fletcher, for the past three weeks she and Giovanni have been the runaway favourites.
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After they scored a perfect 40/40 in Halloween Week for their tango, Rose and Giovanni's winning odds got as short as 2/5 and, even though AJ and Kai have crept into contention after they topped the leaderboard last week, they remain the dead certs to triumph in the ballroom.
And now Rose will have more time to focus on Strictly training, now that viewers saw her leave Albert Square, in a way that many other characters have - in the back of a Walford taxi.
Speaking to Metro about her break from EastEnders, Rose said: "Normally, EastEnders makes you work at the same time as doing Strictly, but EastEnders gave me time off, so I can just focus on Strictly completely."
Reacting to Rose's exit, one fan tweeted: "I don't care for Eastenders but I hope Rose gets the opportunity to show her talent elsewhere. Thankyou #BBCStrictly for allowing the world to see this amazing woman on a grander stage."
Another posted: it’s actually so nice that eastenders let rose have time off to focus on strictly/training"
This week, Rose and Giovanni are expected to score another high score as they perform their Couple's Choice routine to Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson number 1 Symphony.
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