Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu have left Strictly Come Dancing 2026 after Shirley Ballas cast the deciding vote in a dance-off that ended their run. The result cuts the competition to nine couples and sends the pair into the show’s next media stop after a Saturday night that had already left them vulnerable.
Antonia and Xu scored 30 points on Saturday night’s live show, yet they still ended up in the dance-off after receiving the least public votes. That put them into a direct comparison with Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby, who had already been bottom of the leaderboard with 26 points.
Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse
In the dance-off, Antonia and Xu repeated a Foxtrot to Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. Mercer and Ingoldsby repeated a Waltz to That Ain’t You by Mulaa Joans, and the judges split before the head judge stepped in.
Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse voted to save Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu. Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas voted to save Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby, which left Ballas with the deciding vote and sent Antonia and Xu home.
Nine couples remain
The arithmetic now matters more than the scores from Saturday night. Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley scored 28 points, Will Best and Dianne Buswell scored 29, and Antonia and Xu’s 30 was not enough to offset the public vote, which outweighed the leaderboard when the dance-off was called.
That leaves nine couples in the field heading into the next week of the series. It also means the week’s margin was set not by the judges’ marks alone, but by the public’s ranking before the dance-off was even settled.
Strictly: It Takes Two
Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu will appear on Strictly: It Takes Two on Monday at 6.30pm on Two and iPlayer. Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 14 November at 6:25pm on One and iPlayer, while Jaime Winstone’s return still depends on medical clearance after her bye week.
For now, the field is narrower and the pressure is cleaner: nine couples remain, one pair is out, and the next episode will test how much protection a strong score really buys when the public vote turns against you.
