Strictly Come Dancing’s La Voix is forced to pull out of the competition before Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s last ever Blackpool Tower Week

Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix has been forced to pull out of the competition, it was announced during Blackpool Tower Week on Saturday.

The Drag Race star, 45, real name Christopher Dennis, had to drop out of the upcoming Blackpool special this weekend after suffering an injury.

And as the show kicked off, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman dazzled in stunning ballgowns for their last ever Blackpool Week – after the duo announced they are leaving the show after the end of this series. 

However Strictly fans were met with disappointing news as the pair confirmed that La Voix had been told by medics she could not continue on with the competition. 

The drag queen was spotted in the front row of the audience looking forlorn as the announcement was made.

Minutes later the remaining celebrities were left shocked as Tess revealed that nobody would be going home this week, with the dance off cancelled and all scores rolling over to next week’s show.  

Taking to Instagram minutes after the announcement of her exit was made, La Voix shared a statement.

She wrote: ‘I’m absolutely devastated to be withdrawing from Strictly Come Dancing. This isn’t the glittering exit I ever imagined, and it breaks my heart to feel like I’ve let people down.

‘My spirit wanted to keep dancing but my foot had other ideas! Thank you for every cheer, every vote and every sparkle of support – it’s meant the world to me. This isn’t the ending I imagined but I’ll cherish this forever.’

For their final ever Blackpool week, Tess wowed in a white glitzy cut-out gown featuring a cape design. 

Meanwhile Claudia opted for a striking bright red boat neck gown with draping.  

First to take to the dance floor was Lewis Cope and his professional partner Katya Jones who performed a Charleston. 

The dance left judge Anton Du Beke speechless and Craig Revel Horwood had just one word for it, ‘fabulous’. 

The astounding dance gave Lewis his second perfect score of 40, after he was the first celebrity to achieve it this series. 

Next up was Balvinder Sopal and her dance partner, newbie Julian Caillon, with a very racy Argentine Tango. 

Despite looking disappointed with her performance, Balvinder impressed the judges, with Motsi Mabuse calling her the ‘comeback queen’ – as a result of facing four dance offs. 

Balvinder came back with a bang and achieved her highest score of the series so far, with three eights and a nine. 

Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin then performed a bouncy Quickstep to S Club 7 hit Reach For The Stars. 

As is tradition with Blackpool week, the celebrities were joined on the dance floor by a group of other professional dancers.

Craig was met with a sea of boos as he criticised Amber’s gapping but he went on to say her timing and ability to cover the floor were ‘exceptional’. The pair scored 36 out of 40.

Next to perform were Lioness Karen Carney and her partner Carlos Gu, who danced a very dramatic Paso Doble. 

The dance was met with a standing ovation from the crowd – as did Motsi and Shirley. 

‘Darling that’s how you score a goal that’s for sure. Insane,’ said Craig, before Motsi added: ‘I do not have a paddle that can express how good that dance was.’

Meanwhile Shirley said the show will go down in history and Anton said he wished he could score her 25 points. She bagged a score of 39 for the dance.

Alex Kingston and her partner Johannes Radebe were next with their Couple’s Choice dance, a glamorous and sultry number – for which they scored 35 points. 

George Clarke closed the iconic Blackpool show with a salsa, accompanied by his dance partner Alexis Warr.

The YouTuber impressed the judges with his energy in the routine, with Shirley hailing it a ‘new day with a new George and a new vibe’. She confessed she wasn’t expecting that level of performance from him. 

The pair achieved a huge score of 39 for the routine, their highest yet.  

The show kicked off with a special performance from Steps – who took to the ballroom floor with a medley of their hit tracks, which included Tragedy. 

The Strictly professionals wowed the audience with a very glitzy accompanying number, where they were later joined on the dance floor by the judges and celebrity contestants. 

La Voix shared her sadness on Saturday just hours ahead of the show’s iconic Blackpool performance. 

And after hitting back at fans who cruelly suggested she had faked her injury to get out of the performance, La Voix took to Instagram as she marked the ‘sad day’. 

After she was gifted a bouquet of flowers from Blossom & Ivy, La Voix shared a snap as she penned: ‘Thank you so much Darlings @blossom_and_ivy. 

‘This really is a gorgeous surprise on an otherwise sad day of not dancing in Blackpool’. 

Explaining her injury earlier this week on It Takes Two, La Voix told host Janette Manrara: ‘This has been ongoing since the foxtrot. 

‘I felt a little niggle in my foot, hence comments about me being flat-footed. I was thinking this will be fine, but it got gradually worse.

‘Until, on Saturday, we had to change shoes. I couldn’t wear heels. I had to wear those awful flat shoes.

‘We tried on Monday and it was really clear I was struggling, in pain, so we decided to be professional and call this, hoping with some rest I can be back.’ 

A day later La Voix took to Instagram to share an update with fans. 

She said: ‘Good morning my darlings. As I’m looking on social media and everyone is on their way to Blackpool, I am off for an MRI scan to see what is actually going on with my foot.

‘I have a bone bruise, which is basically from the repetition of being in the heels and it’s on where my toe joins my foot.

‘It’s like a deep bone bruise, which basically if I keep working on could become a stress fracture. Which obviously means a broken foot which is six to eight weeks off my foot in a boot.

‘Which would be awful, so luckily they’ve caught it up before it has got to that stage. 

‘And as I said on It Takes Two to the physio team, the whole of the BBC Strictly team have been amazing.’