Strictly Come Dancing’s Balvinder Sopal made a quick-witted dig at her unenviable track record in the show’s dance-off – and her fans couldn’t get enough of her sense of humour.
The EastEnders star has been in four dance-offs so far throughout the series, managing to narrowly avoid elimination by impressing the judges each time.
During Saturday (29 November) night’s episode, the actor alluded to her frequent appearances in the bottom two of the competition after Anton du Beke offered some critique on her jive.
Sopal performed the routine to “Right Back Where We Started From” by Maxine Nightingale with her dance partner Julian Caillon, who made his Strictly debut in September.
Du Beke suggested that “hesitancy in the legs” had been the source of some of Sopal’s problems during the dance, telling her: “When you don’t commit to one leg or the other, you get between the feet and you get on the wrong foot.”
“There was so much to like,” he added. “You had this enthusiasm, this vivacity.”
“I will come back and do it again in the dance off,” Sopal shot back, prompting Caillon to groan.
Du Beke’s fellow judge Craig Revel Horwood then conceded that Sopal is “good at dance-offs, darling”.
Viewers on Twitter/X praised the soap star for her good humour, with one social media user writing: “Bal already joking about the dance-off, god bless our queen.”
“The audience had no idea whether to boo or cheer that comment from Bal,” another added.
“Bal is sooo funny,” a third chimed in, with another hailing her as a “legend”.
Some viewers found her remark more poignant though, with one fan writing: “Bal joking about the dance off oh someone hug her please.”
“Bal expecting to be in the dance off as usual, sad really,” another said.
Earlier this week, Sopal told The Independent that judge Motsi Mabuse’s support has helped her bounce back after the dance-offs.
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Mabuse has hailed her as the “comeback queen”, and Sopal said the judge’s remark had her “heart in bits in the nicest possible way”.
She added: “We have fought tooth and nail every single time to be here to show people we really do enjoy being part of the competition.”