Strictly’s Motsi Mabuse shares a heartfelt moment with Ellie Simmonds following her live performance

By Liam On Oct 9, 2022

Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse and Ellie Simmonds were caught sharing a heartfelt moment on Saturday night, after the competition’s third live show.

The judge appeared to comfort the Olympic swimmer entrant in the snaps, holding her arms as they gathered at their hotel after a busy night.

During the show, mistakes in Ellie’s routine led to some criticism from the judges, as the star admitted she was “so, so nervous” when she hit the dance floor.

Comforting: Strictly’s Motsi Mabuse shared a heartfelt moment with Ellie Simmonds on Saturday night when they were caught in their hotel after her third live performance

Ellie, Strictly’s first contestant with dwarfism, got some footwork blunders during her performance with pro partner Nikita Kuzmin.

But it seems the pro-turned-judge Motsi had some encouraging words for the sportswoman, with the photos showing the pair engaged in conversation.

The two ladies had both dressed up earlier in the evening of the glitzy live show, with Motsi wearing cycling shorts and a white hoodie with a smiley print.

Comfortable: The pair were both dressed from the glitzy live show earlier in the evening, with Motsi wearing cycling shorts and a white hoodie with a smiley print

Supportive: The judge appeared to comfort the Olympic swimmer entrant in the snaps, holding her arms as they gathered at their hotel after a busy night

Dance floor: Nikita and Ellie danced a Quickstep to Ludovico Bource’s Peppy and George during the Movies Week live show

In the zone: The pair appeared to be in deep conversation as they got ready to wind down for the evening

While Ellie had swapped out her Hollywood glamor cocktail dress for black leggings and a matching quilted jacket, pulling her blonde locks into a tousled bun.

The swimmer beamed at Motsi, who seemed animated during the conversation as she spoke with her hands.

Nikita and Ellie danced a Quickstep to Ludovico Bource’s Peppy and George during the Movies Week live show.

They took 27 out of 40 points for the performance, with Motsi saying afterwards that she “loved Ellie’s personality” during the performance, but claimed the “nerves got to her.”

Judges: Ellie’s mistakes during her performance were noticed by the four judges, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi

Friends: While Motsi was holding Ellie’s arms, the latter appeared cheerful – beaming to the right

Calm: Ellie had swapped out her Hollywood glamor cocktail dress for black leggings and a matching quilted jacket, and pulled her blonde locks into a tousled bun

She explained: “I have a feeling it could be fantastic. It was such a great set up and what I like to see is your personality grow, grow. You understand the performance, the story, all that.

“Maybe the nerves are getting to you today, try to calm yourself down next week, girl.”

Anton Du Beke criticized her footwork, explaining, “You’re going to look back on this and be a little disappointed because the footwork wasn’t great.”

“I’m sorry, I’d like to say it was brilliant, but I can’t,” he continued.

While Craig Revel Horwood agreed, he admitted that despite the good choreography, the timing wasn’t right at the beginning, with some mistakes in the middle.

Couture but comfy: Motsi wore a pair of Prada sneakers with checkerboard socks, after looking glitzy in a white dress earlier in the evening

Animated: Motsi seemed animated as she spoke with her hands during the conversation

Nerves: Motsi told Ellie during the show: ‘Maybe the nerves are getting to you today, try to calm yourself down next week girl’

After the performance, Ellie admitted to presenting to Claudia Winkleman how nervous she gets to dance live.

“Let’s talk about the nerves, you told me you’re more nervous about dancing than jumping in the pool to win a gold medal,” Claudia asked.

As Ellie explained, “Oh yeah, I was so nervous. I’m nervous every night, and you can see it. My hands are sweating. I’m so, so nervous.’

Elsewhere, Tyler West won in the evening, when he and partner Diane Buswell topped the scoreboard with an impressive 38 out of 40.

Strictly Come Dancing Week 3 Scoreboard

Tyler West and Dianne Buswell: A Charleston Dance to Flash, Bang, Wallop! – 38 out of 40 points

Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu: Dancing a waltz on one hand – 34 out of 40 points

Kym Marsh and Graziano Di Prima: Dancing the Charleston to If My Friends Could See Me Now – 33 points out of 40

Will Mellor and Nancy Xu: Dancing the American Smooth to Cry To Me – 33 out of 40 points

Helen Skelton and Gorka Márquez: Dancing the Viennese Waltz on Hopelessly Dedicated to You – 31 out of 40 points

Fleur East and Vito Coppola: Dancing the American Smooth to Part Of Your World – 29 out of 40 points

Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer: the Cha Cha Cha dancing to What A Feeling – 29 out of 40 points

Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice: dancing a samba to Hakuna Matata – 27 out of 40 points

Ellie Simmonds and Nikita Kuzmin: Dancing the Quickstep to Peppy and George – 27 out of 40 points

Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystał: Dancing a rumba on the theme from Jurassic Park – 25 points out of 40

James Bye and Amy Dowden: Dancing the Cha Cha Cha to Hooked On A Feeling – 22 out of 40 points

Ellie Taylor and Johannes Radebe: Dancing the Cha Cha Cha to The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) – 21 out of 40 points

Matt Goss and Nadiya Bychkova: Dancing the Viennese Waltz to Hold My Hand – 21 out of 40 points

Tony Adams and Katya Jones: Dancing the Samba to You Sexy Thing – 18 out of 40 points