Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice achieve historic 40 on Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing 2021
Giovanni Pernice and Rose Ayling-Ellis on Strictly’s Halloween week
PA

Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice have made Strictly Come Dancing history after they scored 40 in week six, the earliest the top mark has ever been achieved in the competition.

They performed a tango to Ed Sheeran’s latest hit Shivers which secured them the highest mark of the series so far.

Sheeran also surprised the couple with a video message which was played to the pair after they completed their dance.

He said: “Hey Rose, Ed Sheeran here. Thank-you so much for dancing to my track Shivers with Giovanni.

“I hope you have a wonderful rest of the season, I hope you win and I’m really honoured that you’re dancing to it. Have a great day, lots of love.”

Commenting on the dance, judge Anton Du Beke said: “I’ve written a few things down here and they all basically say perfect, congratulations.”

Earlier on Saturday, Dan Walker said his Strictly partner’s love of dancing has rubbed off. He also on him as he expressed his “surprise” that he is still in the competition in the sixth week.

The BBC Breakfast presenter, 44, also revealed in a video posted on Twitter on Saturday morning that his newly-announced co-host Sally Nugent will be in the audience to support him for Halloween week.

Walker and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova performed a jive to Rock Lobter by The B-52s on Saturday evening’s show.

In a video posted to Twitter, he said: “Hello, here we are, another Saturday, another week of Strictly.

Strictly Come Dancing 2021
Dan Walker and Nadiya Bychkova
PA

“I hope you’re having a fantastic weekend so far.

“It’s week six would you believe and we’re still knocking about, which is a huge surprise, but very enjoyable.

“It’s very strange because the judges keep telling me I need to believe in myself and to let go, and I am trying, and if you watch tonight I think you’ll probably see a bit of that.”

The TV presenter also spoke of the influence his dance partner has had on him, saying: “The other thing which I found very surprising is when you spend time with somebody who loves something so much, and Nadiya loves dancing, it’s just a huge part of who she is, it really does rub off on you and I didn’t expect to feel like that.

“I’ve gone from thinking ‘I’m glad that’s over’ to thinking ‘I can’t wait to dance again’.

“And the support we’ve got from so many people is ludicrous and really inspiring.”

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