Comedian Chris Ramsey survives dance-off to make it into the Strictly semi-final

Comedian Chris Ramsey and partner Karen Hauer have survived the dance-off for the first time to make it into the Strictly Come Dancing semi-finals.
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After scoring 28 points for his foxtrot to musical Oliver’s Consider Yourself, the South Shields comedian found himself second off bottom on the leaderboard.

And after 10 weeks of being saved from the dance-off by the public vote, the dad-of-one found himself in the bottom two for the first time yet.

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The couple were up against footballer Alex Scott and partner Neil Jones and their samba to Joyful Joyful from Sister Act – which scored them 27 points on Saturday night.

Couples Karen Hauer with Chris Ramsey (left) and Alex Scott with Neil Jones wait to hear their fate after the dance off. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA WireCouples Karen Hauer with Chris Ramsey (left) and Alex Scott with Neil Jones wait to hear their fate after the dance off. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire
Couples Karen Hauer with Chris Ramsey (left) and Alex Scott with Neil Jones wait to hear their fate after the dance off. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire

It was a very close call with just one point between the two couples – and there dance-off performances left the judges spilt on who to save.

In the end, Chris and Karen were saved by head judge Shirley Ballas after both Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse named Alex and Neil as the couple they wanted to save.

Shirley, who has the final deciding vote, said: "This is a very, very difficult decision. Both couples danced extremely well and, for me, it's going to go personal taste, and I'm going to go with the couple that I felt had the most content and more powerfully entertaining, and therefore I am saving Chris and Karen."

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Bruno Tonioli, who opted to save Chris and Karen sending the vote to Shirley, said the "stronger overall, more convincing, powerful entertaining couple is Chris and Karen", who performed their foxtrot to Consider Yourself from Oliver!”

Karen Hauer and Chris Ramsey during their performance. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA WireKaren Hauer and Chris Ramsey during their performance. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire
Karen Hauer and Chris Ramsey during their performance. Picture by Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire

While Revel Horwood said he had "loved the refreshing fusion of this particular dance and the fact that the dance was performed very, very well" when he named Scott and Jones as his couple to save.

The Gazette launched its #VoteChris campaign after the comedian was paired up with professional dancer Karen in August this year.