Strictly Come Dancing 2023 star Layton Williams has responded to criticism he received from prior show stars following his pole dance act.
The Bad Education star performed his Couple’s Choice with Nikita Kuzmin during Blackpool Week, which saw celebrities and their partners perform at the renowned Tower Ballroom.
Layton, 29, and Nikita, 25, donned identical glittery corsets on top of their black attire as they took turns hanging from a pole at the rear of the stage throughout the performance.
They scored a score of 39 out of a possible 40 from the judges while dancing to Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man, leaving fans seething that they were just one point away from a clean sweep.
Former Strictly pros Brendan Cole and James Jordan, however, were scathing of the performance, with the former comparing it to a Magic Mike spectacle in a Sky Bingo interview.
Meanwhile, James told Hello!: ‘Did I think that dance had a place on Strictly? Absolutely not,’ while also praising Layton on his incredible dancing skills.
In a recent interview, Layton addressed the critiques levelled at the pole dancing performance, emphasising that he and Nikita frequently think outside the box.
‘I feel like we’ve always come out and kind of like done something potentially a little bit more out there pushing the boundaries… we’ve thrown in this and that… and there’s always an element of surprise,’ he said.
‘Why shouldn’t we be swinging from poles and living our best lives? It went down pretty [well] if you ask me so I’m really proud and I stand by it, it’s also a couple’s choice. Get into it.’
Nikita added that the routine had ‘nothing more to it’ than swinging around a pole and dancing, stating: ‘At the end of the day, we’re just two boys dancing together and we are having fun, we’re trying to bring a show, and well, if somebody doesn’t like this, it’s absolutely fine.’
Layton also addressed Strictly fans who have questioned his place in the competition due to his previous experience performing on the West End, having featured in the stage production Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
The performer described it as ‘disrespectful’ to the Strictly pros, who he described as ‘unbelievable’ dancers.
‘I think I’ve kind of learned to kind of just push that away, leave everything on the dancefloor knowing that like, I’ve put my heart and soul into this,’ he said.
On Saturday night’s broadcast of Strictly, Layton and Nikita did an American Smooth to Björk’s It’s Oh So Quiet.
They scored a score of 34 out of a possible 40 from the judges, with two eights and two nines, ranking them fourth out of six on the leaderboard.
The Strictly Come Dancing results show airs today 7.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
