Shirley Ballas ‘in awe’ of Angela Scanlon’s moves on Strictly Come Dancing

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Irish TV presenter Angela Scanlon has left judge Shirley Ballas “in awe” during the second week of Strictly Come Dancing.

The Co Meath-born presenter, 39 – who hosts BBC Two’s Your Home Made Perfect, performed the jive to Trouble by Shampoo with dance partner Carlos Gu on Saturday night.

Sporting red lipstick and dressed in a leather-look top a red and white skirt, Scanlon jived her way to a score of 29 points and came in joint fifth with EastEnders star Bobby Brazier and his dance partner Dianne Buswell.

Following their dance, watched by Scanlon’s husband in the audience, Ballas said she was “in awe” of Scanlon’s leg positions, and Anton Du Beke agreed and said that her swivels were “beautiful” and the dance was “just tremendous”.

Fellow judge Craig Revel Horwood admitted that he “loved it” as it was “neat”, “precise” and “clean”.

Speaking to presenter Claudia Winkleman, Gu said Scanlon was “incredible” and “committed” and mentioned that he was “so proud” of the TV star.

Ahead of the performance, viewers were shown behind-the-scenes moments from their rehearsals and Scanlon was seen saying: “I’m having such a gorgeous time dancing with Carlos and I don’t want to go.”

Musical theatre star Layton Williams and professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin placed first this week and danced the quickstep to Puttin’ On The Ritz.

The series’ only same-sex dance couple performed last and impressed all of the judges, including Revel Horwood, who said that Williams talent was “ridiculous”.

The pair scored nines from all of the judges, taking them to a score of 36 out of 40.

Strictly Come Dancing was live on Saturday from 6.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.