Strictly‘s Pete Wicks chocked back tears after he avoided the dance off and made it through to next week’s semi-finals on Sunday, amid claims his less than polished perfomance could actually see him win the show.

The TOWIE star, 36, and partner Jowita Przystał, 39, sailed onto the next round despite being bottom of the leaderboard during Musicals Week – leaving some viewers to brand the results unfair and demand he ‘resign’ from the competition.

As a result Montell Douglas and Tasha Ghouri were pitted against each other in the dance-off, before the Gladiators star and Johannes Radebe were given the boot.

After learning he’d made it through and emotional Pete spoke with close Claudia Winkleman saying: ‘I am speechless every week, especially this week’.

Thanking the public for saving him he joked: ‘I think they might be playing a cruel joke on me’ before gushing ‘I am so humbled’.

+13
View gallery

Strictly’s Pete Wicks, 36, chocked back tears after he avoided the dance off and made it through to next week’s semi-finals on Sunday (pictured with partner Jowita Przystał)

+13
View gallery

The TOWIE star and partner Jowita Przystał, 39, sailed onto the next round despite being bottom of the leaderboard during Musicals Week

+13
View gallery

As a result Montell Douglas and Tasha Ghouri were pitted against each other in the dance-off, before the Gladiators star and Johannes Radebe (pictured) were given the boot

Racing to X fans fumed:  ‘Whoever is voting for Pete over Montell needs to take a long hard look in the mirror’: ‘Pete is not on the level of any of them… not fair to have Montell & Tasha in the dance off! It should’ve been Pete going!’: ‘Every dancer has improved. Some more than others. Pete should be out’: ‘Pete’s act is tired and tiresome. If he really wanted to be the humble bloke he pretends to be he should do the right thing and RESIGN’.

Meanwhile a source told The Sun: ‘It seems that when it comes to Pete, there’s been a surge in backing among the viewers at home who see him as a potential ‘People’s Champion’.

‘After years of complaining about people with dance experience excelling on Strictly, he is someone who’s obviously a complete amateur who’s thrown himself into the contest and embodies the spirit of the show.

‘They don’t seem to want perfection, they want contestants with real heart and perseverance.’

Sunday saw Montell and Johannes perform their Rumba to I’m Here from the musical The Color Purple, followed by Tasha and Aljaž’s Argentine Tango to Ex-Wives from Six.

After both couples had danced their hardest, it was down to the judges to deliver their verdicts with Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all choosing to save Tasha and Aljaž.

While head judge Shirley Ballas agreed with her fellow judges, and said that she would have also decided to send Montell and Johannes home.

Despite narrowly missing out on a place in the next week’s semi-finals, Montell gushed about her experience on the show, as she described how her confidence had grown, while Johannes had become her ‘friend and brother’.

+13
View gallery

After learning he’d made it through and emotional Pete spoke with close Claudia Winkleman saying: ‘I am speechless every week, especially this week’

+13
View gallery

Pete collapsed into tears after the news was announced and threw his arms around  Jowita

+13
View gallery

+13
View gallery

Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard: Week Eight

1. JB Gill and Lauren Oakley – 37

2. Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec – 37

3. Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe – 36

4. Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystal – 36

5. Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola – 33

6. Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell – 33

7. Wynne Evans and Katya Jones – 32

8. Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas – 30

9. Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu – 30

She said: ‘[Johannes] has been amazing. Strictly has touched me in ways I never knew possible.

‘I’m an Olympian and a Gladiator, but I have honestly struggled with confidence my whole life and being on the show, with the beautiful crew, the judges, the cast has just been such an honour.’

Addressing his partner, Johannes praised: ‘I am so proud of you, because you are a non-dancer. But the one thing that you have done every single week is turn out beautiful dancing.

‘So I want to say to you, thank you for respecting our art form of Ballroom and Latin. The way you handled it was like a true pro. You’re my winner.’

In response, Montell emotionally told him: ‘I have to say thank you to you because I really have found a friend and a brother in this man. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I hope he’s in my life forever, because we have something very special.’

Their exit comes after fans blasted Strictly as they accused bosses of ‘setting Montell up to fail’ with the ‘wrong dance and song’ – after she had already landed in the dance-off two weeks in a row.

Even before taking to the dancefloor, viewers were convinced the Olympian was doomed after she was tasked with dancing the notoriously difficult Rumba to the song I’m Here from The Colour Purple.

The Rumba is widely considered to be one of the most challenging of ballroom dances, while Montell and Johannes were scheduled to go on second, which several fans have called the ‘death slot’.

The pair had only survived by the skin of their teeth for the past two weeks, after facing off potential eliminations against Wynne Evans and Katya Jones, and Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas.

While week seven also saw them in the bottom two, where they were mercifully saved over Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin.

Fans slammed producers for giving Montell ‘the kiss of death’ this week, as they argued their favourite dancer was being purposefully pushed out of the competition.

Fans slammed producers for giving Montell ‘the kiss of death’ this week, as they argued their favourite dancer was being purposefully pushed out of the competition.

+13
View gallery

The Gladiators staand her professional partner Johannes Radebe landed in the bottom two of the public vote for the third week in a row, up against Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec

+13
View gallery

Despite narrowly missing out on a place in the next week’s semi-finals, Montell gushed about her experience on the show, as she described how her confidence had grown, while Johannes had become her ‘friend and brother’

While they seemed in absolute awe of the star’s routine, they were convinced the song was very ‘slow’ compared to the zesty dance – a point noted by several of the judges, who gave her a score of 32 points out of 40.

Viewers quickly took to X sharing their opinions, praising the athlete’s ‘beautiful’ dance but also sharing fears she will be next go get the chop.

They commented: ‘The BBC are so obvious with who they want out. I mean, this is practically a ‘tell me you want Montell out without actually telling me’ situation.

‘It’s ludicrous to give a rumba on Musicals week to a contestant who’s been in the bottom three times?; ‘Worried for Montell with a rumba this late in the series and her being in the bottom 2 so many times’.

‘montell in the death slot with her rumba… when i catch you producers; Voted for montell she was stitched up this week; They’ve only gone and put montell in the death slot with a rumba…’