Strictly Come Dancing pro Nikita Kuzmin spoke out to defend his dance partner Amber Davies after she faced relentless trolling because of her professional dance experience
Strictly Come Dancing star Nikita Kuzmin left viewers divided after he urged them to be “be kind” to his dance partner Amber Davies.
After performing a Couple’s Choice routine to RAYE’s rendition of Fly Me to the Moon, Nikita, 27, and Amber, were awarded the maximum 40 points from judges Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke. The result left them second on the leaderboard as they had already secured 27 points earlier in the show for their Tango.
Following the performance, Nikita and Amber spoke to host Claudia Winkleman where the professional dancer made a plea to keep his partner in the final.
Many have criticised Amber, who has wound up in the bottom two twice, due to her past working as a professional dancer and performing on the West End Stage prior to joining the series.
Directing his comments at Amber he said: “You have had so much hate every single day from the moment you joined. You’ve had so much hate this week and yet, you came every single day into the training room with a big smile ignoring everybody.
“And just giving me love, giving me a ginger shot as well. But you gave so much love, you always were kind, so caring, you care more about me when I’m supposed to care about you. You care about me every single day, you are such a lovely kind person.
“And I think sometimes, and I speak to the audience at home, just please be kind because it costs nothing and you (Amber) don’t deserve none of it. You only deserve love because without you I wouldn’t be here, and the show wouldn’t be as good as it is.”
Taking to X to comment on the moment one viewer wrote: “Its crazy that Amber ended up being the villain of this series instead of Tom Skinner. She’s the falsest contestant in years – acts like she’s been so hard done by when she’s a trained theatre star.”
A second said: “Amber does not deserve to be in the final. Strictly began as a competition for celebs who had no professional dance experience, Amber goes against that ethos.”
A third shared: “It’s not even that I said weeks ago I’ve no issue with dance experience. I take issue with them pretending like they don’t have it. See last week when Shirley told Amber she was ready for The West End now. That’s literally her current job. Being a West End Star…”
A fourth commented: “Giving Amber Davies the ‘poor me’ edit when she gives off mean girl vibes. Not buying it sir .” A fifth added: “Even Ashley Roberts wasn’t as hated as Amber Davies is for being a trained dancer Why? Bc Amber is ridiculously false, lies about her theatre work & the judges desperately overpraise her to guarantee she’s in the final. Karen is a worthier winner.”
On Wednesday, December 10, Amber appeared on Strictly spin off show It Takes Two, where she admitted the backlash has been getting to her. She joined the series at the last minute to replace fellow former Love Islander Dani Dyer, after she suffered an injury that ruled her out of the show in the days before the first live episode of the season.
Viewers were left angry when Nikita and Amber beat Lewis Cope and dance pro Katya Jones to secure a place in Saturday’s semi-final, with comments flooding in via social media. Amber said: “I would like to think I have thick skin, but obviously the start of the week has been tougher than usual.
“I would just like to remind everybody that I was never supposed to be here. I was a quick replacement. I’m just doing my best.” She also acknowledged those who have supported her journey adding: “The love is actually more overpowering than the hate, so if you’ve sent a message or a kind comment our way, then we really do appreciate it so much.”
Amber shared her own feelings on Instagram following the dance-off, writing: “I will always be your number one fan Lewis Cope. To go up against one of the greatest dancers Strictly has ever seen was simply terrifying, however, I was actually dancing against my best friend in this competition, and that broke my heart.”
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Source: Mirror
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