Strictly Come Dancing star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink spoke out about the dances he was dreading to perform ahead of his exit in week five
Strictly Come Dancing star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has become the latest celebrity to leave the competition, following a dance-off with Amber Davies. After being confirmed for the show, the former Chelsea player expressed fears of performing a particular type of dance and branded judge Craig Revel Horwood “ruthless”.
Quizzed on what he was dreading on the show, he said: “Latin dances… yeah, those are going to be tough!”.
The 53-year-old was also asked about how he would respond to criticism from the judges; Shirley Ballas, Craig, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
Speaking to OLBG.com, he said: “Well, we know how ruthless Craig Revel Horwood can be, so hopefully I can get myself into his good books!”.
Despite his attempts at impressing the judges however, all four were not on his side in the show’s latest dance-off on Sunday evening.
Amber and Nikita Kuzmin danced their Cha Cha Cha to Break Free by Ariana Grande again, while Jimmy and Lauren Oakley performed their American Smooth to Purple Rain by Prince.
After both couples danced, all four judges chose to save Amber, who will return to the dance floor next week.
When asked by presenter Tess Daly about his time on the show, Jimmy said: “I have absolutely loved my experience.
“I can only say thank you very much for letting me have this experience and to my daughters for pushing me to come here and do this. I never expected that I would enjoy it this much.”
The football manager went on to praise the staff who work behind the scenes as “absolutely magnificent”.
“This experience is going to live with me forever,” he added.
“Most importantly, [to Lauren] this girl, she is just absolutely incredible. She has been absolutely amazing with me. You are a diamond.”
Sharing her thoughts, Lauren said she was “absolutely gutted” that their journey had come to an end.
“We’ve had so many laughs. We have had the best time and I am so proud of how far he has come,” she said.
“And it proves that anyone can be a dancer if you put your mind to it. He’s a footballer! And he just danced like that.
“We’ve had the best time and I’m just so proud and I feel honoured to have been able to teach you. You’ve been an amazing student.”
The remaining ten couples will take to the dancefloor for a spooktacular Halloween special next weekend.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday 1st November at 6.35pm, followed by the results show on Sunday 2nd November at 7.15pm.
Jimmy and Lauren will join Strictly: It Takes Two for their first interview on Monday at 6:30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.