Strictly Come Dancing returned to Blackpool’s famous Tower Ballroom on Saturday evening, where Angela Rippon had a full circle moment.
The TV presenter, 79, took to the dance floor with her partner Kai Widdrington after presenting the original version of the show, Come Dancing, in the 1980s and 1990s.
The duo danced Ella Fitzgerald’s American Smooth to Tea for Two and scored 28 out of a possible 40 points, despite complaints from fans that they never seem to get fast dances.
Angela’s performance at the Tower Ballroom was on the line when she found herself in the bottom two for the second time last week.
After failing to impress the audience, she was saved again by the judges despite that her almost fell during her Paso Doble.
Strictly Come Dancing returned to Blackpool’s famous Tower Ballroom on Saturday evening, with Angela Rippon, 79, having a full circle moment
She’s back: the television presenter took to the dance floor with her partner Kai Widdrington with a duo dancing Ella Fitzgerald’s American Smooth to Tea for Two
The first Come Dancing program was broadcast in 1950 and presented by Peter Dimmock, with Leslie Mitchell as master of ceremonies.
Angela joined as a presenter a few years later alongside the likes of Terry Wogan, Judith Chalmers, David Jacobs and Rosemarie Ford.
Come Dancing ended in 1998. However, the success of the film Strictly Ballroom reignited interest in dance and Strictly Come Dancing was broadcast on the BBC in 2004.
The presenter came under fire last week after her sent Krishnan Guru-Murthy home during her second dance.
Angela and Kai won the majority of votes, keeping them in the competition, but head judge Shirley Ballas said she would have decided to save Krishnan and Lauren.
Judge Craig Revel Horwood said: ‘Well Krishnan, you really upped your game during that dance, it was beautiful. Angela, you almost lost your supporting leg, darling, on the stairs, but you miraculously made it.
“But the couple I’d like to rescue and send on to Blackpool are Angela and Kai.”
While Shirley said, “Well, I picked the person who I felt was more on my feet, without any technical errors, and I would have saved Krishnan and Lauren.”
Wow: The presenter returned to the seaside resort after presenting the original version of the show, Come Dancing, in the 1980s and 1990s (pictured in 1988)
Achievement: The duo scored 28 points out of a possible 40
Oops: Angela’s Tower Ballroom performance was on the line when she found herself in the bottom two for the second time last week
Drama: She came under fire last week after being rescued during the dance competition during a performance where she almost fell during her Paso Doble
Raging: Strictly Come Dancing fans accused the show of being a ‘fix’ after Krishnan Guru-Murthy was sent home on Sunday night
Fix: But viewers at home were outraged by the decision to save Angela and accused the show of ‘favoritism’, arguing that her mistake should have sent her home
But viewers at home were furious at the decision and accused the show of ‘favouritism’ towards Angela, arguing that her mistake should have sent her home but bosses wanted to ensure the TV presenter went to Blackpool next week come.
One person tweeted: ‘Sorry, this is one of those solutions. How can you say, “Angela, you literally almost fell over. Krishnan, you were significantly better, but I’m still going to save Angela? This is one such solution. I never agreed to it with Shirley before wtf happened.”
Another echoed, “At this point I feel like Angela could have stood there for the entire song and she still would have gotten through it.” For once I agree with Shirley: Krishnan was better.’
Last week, Angela was saved from the dance competition when the contestants reached the halfway point of the competition.
The broadcaster was forced to compete against Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk in the dancing competition, with all four judges choosing to save Angela and her partner Kai.
But despite the unanimous decision, fans were left furious that the ‘wrong person’ went home after the terrifying confrontation between the two couples.
When she next appeared on It Takes Two with host Fleur East, Angela told how it was ‘tough’ competing against Adam in the dance.
When Fleur asked her if she was nervous about going up against Adam to fight for a spot in the competition, Andrea explained that the show is getting tougher and no one is safe.
“I think the situation we’re in at the moment is that the pool is getting so small now, there’s only eight of us now. If there are only three people in the final, it gets harder every week and someone gets eliminated.
Bittersweet: Last week, Angela was saved from the dance competition when the contestants were halfway through the competition
‘The difficult thing was that Adam is such a nice guy. We all absolutely adore him, we have all become good friends.
“If you’re the other person in the dance-off, you know you’re going to be competing with someone who’s become a buddy. It’s tough, it’s tough.’
Still, Angela confessed that she also saw the positives in redoing her routine, as she explained, “Oh, it was really disturbing. I was angry at myself because I clearly hadn’t done everything Kai had been pushing into me over the past week.
‘At the same time, the advantage is that we have to dance it again. It was wonderful to be able to do it again.’