Neil Jones has defended Toyah Willcox after they were saved in the first Strictly Come Dancing elimination of the 2024 season.
The 42-year-old dance professional is paired with music icon Toyah, 66, for the 22nd season of Strictly - which has been airing in the wake of toxic work environment claims and with ratings declining. Sunday night saw the first elimination of the season and Niel and Toyah found themselves in the dance off against Olympic swimmer Tom Dean, 24, and his dance partner Nadiya Bychkova, 35.
The judges opted to save Neil and Toyah after both couples danced again - meaning it was the end of the road for Rom and Nadiyah. Some viewers were frustrated that the swimming sensation and his professional dance partner were voted out - but Neil has come out swinging in support of his Thunder in the Mountains singing partner.
Taking to social media after the results show on Sunday, Neil shared snaps of himself and Toyah on the dancefloor, and wrote: “Ladies and Gentlemen when you ask me how my Saturday night went."
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Standing up for his celebrity co-star, he added: "I just want to say it’s week 2 @toyahofficial is not a dancer but every day she’s improving, each day I tell Toyah, it might not be perfect but you are improving and at the same time you are not losing who you really are and that is what @bbcstrictly is all about."
He concluded: "You bring so much joy in our lives and I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to teach and guide you so we can both entertain" - and added an orange heart emoji at the end of his post. When one follower responded to the post to simply ask: "How?????" Neil hit back to double down on his comment.
He wrote: "because this week she improved and stayed on time. I told her it’s the most important part of dancing." When another fan then commented that he and Toyah had been "faffing about" too much during their performance, the dance pro responded: "honestly I wish nobody would go home and every week what we do will change depending on the dance and story."
Another fan appeared to mock Neil's assessment, writing: "Sorry Neil, you are fab, however seems Toyah was looking forward to Barbados!" But the pro dancer replied: "she’s was joking, she loves strictly and honestly I’ve never known someone to work as hard as her."
Neil also wrote on one of Toyah's post Strictly show Instagram posts to support her further. He typed: "You were brilliant partner. So proud of you." After being voted off, Tom expressed his sadness that his Strictly journey had ended so soon. He wrote: "Coming straight from the Paris 2024 Olympics into Strictly Come Dancing has been a whirlwind but I’m so so proud
"The journey may have ended a little earlier than I hoped and of course I am so gutted, but I’m so grateful for all the amazing people I met, people I’ll be cheering on throughout and who I know will continue to smash it. And to my brilliant partner @nadiyabychkova , thank you so much for everything. You’ve been an amazing teacher and to have danced alongside you has been an absolute privilege."
Meanwhile, Nadiyah appeared to be suffering from sour grapes following her elimination. She hit out at the show, writing online: “I really appreciate all the messages but I’m not ready to talk about what happened tonight just yet.”
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