Strictly star Balvinder Sopal discusses being in the dance off on Sunday night’s show [October 12] during her appearance on It Takes Two tonight [Tuesday, October 14].

Balvinder and her pro dance partner, Julian Caillon, danced off against Ross King and Jowita Przystal on Sunday, with Ross being sent home by the judges. 

Strictly star Balvinder Sopal on being in the dance off

Speaking to Fleur East during tonight’s show, Balvinder addressed her performance on Saturday [October 11], which saw Shirley Ballas criticise her footwork and technique. 

“The footwork for me was by no means very good,” Shirley said at the time.

“Hold on, hold on, because I do believe that Balvinder is going to go far. But she’s not going to go far if everything is mushy and cushy and ‘oh you’re just great’. I want her to learn something. I want you to pay attention to a heel turn. Heel turns were missed. The slows weren’t quite there. The quick quicks looked a bit stuck. So I believe that with all this beauty and finesse that you have given, you are stunning, but footwork will need attention.”

Shirley then gave them a score of six.

Speaking about the foxtrot, Balvinder said: “Well, I’m very proud. When I watched it back, I thought it looked absolutely beautiful. We played the parts really beautifully. I think audiences connected with it as well. You know, there was a real warmth to the foxtrot. And it was beautiful to dance as well.”

‘Something went amiss’

Continuing, Balvinder laughed: “I felt like we were connected, but something went amiss.”

The star then went on to say that each week, it gets “easier” confidence-wise as she knows the “formula now”. She added that it helps having an audience there, cheering them on and wanting them to do well.

Balvinder then went on to speak about the “incredible” support she’s received over the weekend.

“My phone was on fire with messages of support and people disagreeing with the outcome,” she then said.

Balvinder on being in the dance off

The star then continued, saying that the support “kind of restored a little bit of confidence in me, you know, that we are hitting all the right tones with the public, which is a great thing.

“I think people thought we were safe, which is maybe why they didn’t vote for us…,” she then said.

“But, you know, at the same time, there’s always going to be two couples in the bottom two, and you just never know which way it’s gonna go,” Julian then added.

Balvinder then added that they handled being in the bottom two “really well” and were “really calm”.

“I was actually more stressed about the fact that Bal was calm, because either she is pumped, she’s ready to go, or it’s absolutely fallen apart. Deep down I knew that we were going to go out there and do our thing,” Julian then added.

Read more: Strictly Come Dancing star Chris Robshaw reveals his family are ‘loving’ his time on the show

It Takes Two continues tomorrow night (Wednesday, October 15) at 6.30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.