Strictly pro Nadiya Bychkova was emotional this evening as she paid tribute to her celebrity partner Dan Walker, hailing him as "the right person in my life in the right time".
The couple narrowly missed out on the semi-final after coming up against AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington in the dance-off.
Both pairs performed their routines again - Dan his Tango and AJ her Salsa - but all the judges ultimately chose to save AJ.
Afterwards, Dan paid tribute to Nadiya, calling her an "amazing woman" and said that it had been an incredible experience.
He said: "By the way I would have saved AJ and Kai as well! The last 11 weeks have been absolutely amazing, I’ve genuinely loved every second of it.
"When I go back to the first day when I was asked to dance in front of some glitter balls, at that point, if there had been a fire exit, I’d have just walked away. But this amazing woman grabbed me by the hand, and brought me out onto this dance floor. I’m not a dancer, but she showed me that I can dance, and that for me, this has been an absolutely incredible experience.
"Thank you to the judges, your feedback every week has been brilliant, and really constructive and helpful, and everyone over there, my fellow competitors, have been brilliant. The four people left are so good, as you say, the standard has been amazing, it’s been a pleasure for me to watch them dance each week, and thank you to all the pros for being so kind, caring and encouraging.
"Plus everyone who works on this programme, it’s a pleasure to be a part of a show that means so much to so many people. I also want to mention this amazing woman next to me, there are some people who walk into your life and turn some lights on, and that’s what she has done to me. You’re an amazing person, and if you’ll have me, you’ll have a friend for life Nadiya Bychkova.”
Asked whether she had any words for Dan, Nadiya said: "Like he said, sometimes the right person walks into your life at the right time and that’s what happened. You always encourage everyone, you always have time for everyone, it just inspires me to be a better person myself. Thank you."
Dan added: "I’ve loved it, I don’t think ill dance all the time, but the one thing that will be different, is that I won’t not dance anymore. So thank you for having me, it’s been brilliant!"
*Strictly returns next Saturday on BBC One
