Stacey battled injury to wow viewers
Strictly Come Dancing star Stacey Dooley wowed with an impressive performance on last night’s show despite being injured - and some viewers have even called it one of the best dances in the show’s history.
The 31-year-old and professional partner Kevin Clifton danced their Couples’ Choice routine (featuring Street and Commercial styles) to Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind and it certainly made an impact.
In fact judge Shirley Ballas gave the pair a standing ovation and hailed the performance as ‘fantastic’.
“You have grown incredibly,” she told Stacey. “I’m so proud of you.”
Meanwhile Craig Revel Horwood said of the dance: “Absolutely everything I love.”
The judges awarded the routine 36 out of 40, the couple’s highest score of the series which put them in third place on the leaderboard.
But many viewers at home clearly felt it should have been at the top after calling the routine one of the greatest to ever air on the show.
“Absolutely the best dance I have EVER seen on strictly, like ever!!” one admirer tweeted, whilst another wrote: “simply the BEST dance I haven’t seen on 16 years of Strictly, LOVED IT”
Meanwhile one posted: “not only was this the best dance of the night. not only was it one of the best dances of the series. it's undoubtedly one of the best dances in the history of strictly which doesn't explain why the judges only gave it 36 out of 40.”
Others admitted that the imaginative dance had left them feeling very emotional, with one confessing: “Absolutely breath taking. Made me cry with happiness”
And another even tipped the Stacey and Kevin for victory.
“Think we’re looking at the winners of strictly 2018......well done you amazing pair,” the fan predicted.
It comes after Stacey was forced to miss two days of training this week due to a rib injury which even landed her in hospital for a check-up.
Fortunately the documentary maker pulled through it and Kevin praised her after their performance for putting so much effort in.
“We trained eight o’clock in the morning until 10pm for Wednesday and Thursday to try and catch the hours up,” he explained. “You deserve this so much, honestly.”
Whilst Stacey earned heaps of praise, it was Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev who topped the leaderboard thanks to their Foxtrot scoring 39 points.
