Strictly's Nikita jumps to Layton's defence amid 'sad and unnecessary' trolling

28 November 2023 , 11:40

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Strictly's Nikita jumps to Layton's defence amid 'sad and unnecessary' trolling

Strictly Come Dancing's Nikita Kuzmin was quick to defend celebrity dance partner Layton Williams on Tuesday.

Professional dancer Nikita, 25, and Layton, 29, had been topping the leaderboard each week with their incredible routines but in a shock twist found themselves in the dreaded dance-off on Sunday night. The duo were saved by the judges with Angela Scanlon and her pro partner Carlos Gu sadly going home.

Talking about the shock dance-off on Tuesday's This Morning, Layton admitted he had a "feeling" that he may have been in the bottom two and opened up about the trolling he has received while being on the BBC One show.

Strictly Come Dancing's Nikita Kuzmin was quick to defend celebrity dance partner Layton Williams on Tuesday (ITV)

The Bad Education star, who has previously defended his past dance experience, spoke about representing the LGBTIQA+ community and said on the trolling he has received: "It's just one of those things I had in my mind maybe it would happen but then I don't know, it's like: 'Really, are we still there?'"

Layton added: "I like to wear this, I do whatever I want and the team are really behind us." Talking about some of the trolling he receives, he added: "It's like: 'Can you not just dress like a man, please please please put a suit on!' and I'm like: 'Girl, relax!'"

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Nikita was quick to jump in as he said: "We get a bit defensive of our partners and just to see sometimes people speaking things or saying things they shouldn't be saying.

Nikita, 25, and Layton, 29, had been topping the leaderboard but in a shock twist found themselves in the dreaded dance-off (BBC)

"Sometimes things also get to him, and that's a personal side, I find it sad and unnecessary [the trolling]. At the end of the day, we just want to make people happy, we just want to put on a show..."

Layton added: "I'm sure you [This Morning hosts Rochelle Humes and Craig Doyle] know how it feels, you can have 1000 amazing messages and then just one [negative] and you're like: 'Urgh!' but in these moments, I've said it before and I'll say it again... even Beyoncé has haters, so!"

After the dance-off, the duo are feeling positive going into Musicals Week and will be performing a "fighting" Paso Doble to Backstage Romance from Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Olivia Wheeler