Lawrence Robb Leaves Strictly After the First Three-Couple Dance-Off

Lawrence Robb is out of Strictly Come Dancing. The Emmerdale actor and his professional partner, Jowita Przystal, became the fifth couple to leave the 2026 series on Sunday night, after the show's first dance-off with three couples rather than two. All four judges chose to send them home. Ten couples remain. The next live show is on Saturday 7 November at 6.30pm on BBC One.

Halloween Week had already put Robb and Przystal ninth on the judges' leaderboard, with 26 points for a tango to the Ghostbusters theme. Craig Revel Horwood called that routine sharp, staccato and entertaining. Shirley Ballas said Robb was improving and shining. The public vote still left them in the bottom three, with Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, and Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu. In the dance-off they repeated the tango. It was not enough. Motsi Mabuse, who held a deciding vote if the judges had split, said she would have sent the same couple home.

Who survived, and who led the board

Antonia and Xu repeated a jive to Fifth Harmony's "I'm in Love with a Monster". Winstone and Gu repeated a salsa to the Scissor Sisters' "Filthy/Gorgeous". Both couples had finished above Robb on Saturday's leaderboard, which made the repeat a steep hill. Winstone and Gu are now double dance-off survivors. Antonia has been saved by the judges before, including in Icons Week when Dame Sarah Storey left. That result is here.

The top of Saturday's card belonged to EastEnders actor Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola. Their Charleston, to Cheryl and Tinie Tempah's "Crazy Stupid Love", scored nines across the board: 36 points, and the right to close the show. Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington drew a "sensational" Viennese waltz from the panel. John Nellis, the YouTuber, and Katya Jones posted his highest score of the series with a tango. Tabby Stoecker and Graeme Hall had been joint last on the judges' marks before the public vote was added. Stoecker, an Olympian, had been top of the table the week before. She stays. The complaint from viewers was about the mark, not about a surprise exit.

Why the format change mattered

A three-couple dance-off is new to the show's results night. It lengthens the programme and it changes the politics of the bottom of the board. A couple can be safe from last place on the judges' cards and still dance again, which is what happened to Antonia and to Winstone. A couple can be joint last with the judges and survive on votes, which is what happened to Stoecker and Hall. The risk sits with anyone the public has cooled on, even if the judges have started to praise the improvement. Robb's 26 was not a collapse. It was not a shield either.

The professionals' group routine, built around Tame Impala and a reading by Sir Ian McKellen, kept the Halloween brief after the scores were done. Becky Hill performed, with a routine from Aleksandra Isaeva and Cristian Priori. None of that changes the series arithmetic. Five celebrities have now left. The next results show, on 8 November, is already billed around Remembrance Sunday, with a professionals' piece about women in the Second World War and music from Gregory Porter. Two couples, not three, are due in that dance-off. Sunday's experiment may stay a one-week fright.

Where to watch the exit interview

Robb and Przystal are due on Strictly: It Takes Two this evening at 6.30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, beside Ellie Taylor. For viewers who spent the weekend on the other BBC hit, Celebrity Traitors ended on Friday with Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft winning for the Faithfuls. Strictly now has a clear week of training before the halfway show. The question for Monday is the usual one after a unanimous exit: whether the dance-off revealed a gap the marks had already shown, or whether three couples on the floor simply gave the judges an easier choice. On Sunday night they did not hesitate.