Fleur East addresses prop incident that led to her restarting Strictly dance-off

Strictly Come Dancing’s Fleur East has addressed the prop incident that led to her restarting her dance-off performance, saying: “The show must go on.”

The singer and presenter, 35, and her professional dance partner Vito Coppola restarted their performance following an “incident with a prop”, although this was not shown on TV.

They performed a salsa routine to Beyonce’s Break My Soul, triumphing over EastEnders actor James Bye and his partner Amy Dowden, who became the fifth couple to leave the show.

Appearing on Loose Women, Coppola revealed it had been his tumble that prompted the restart.

He said: “Basically what happened is that in the first few seconds of our number, I just fell down on the chair.

“Literally was like a bad fall. Everyone was gasping but I showed them I was OK and able to restart – so thank you.

“I’m fine, I’m here today, so all good. Thank you very much.”

Loose Women panellist Denise Welch asked them: “It was health and safety, wasn’t it? That’s why you did it again.”

Coppola replied: “We were continuing because we always say to each other, ‘If anything happens, let’s just keep going, keep continuing’.

“And literally I was trying to stand up and continue, and when I turned around she was like spinning.”

East added: “I was ready, I was like the show must go on. And then production decided to stop the music. We were like, ‘Oh, OK’.”

In a statement shared with the PA news agency, a BBC spokesperson said the show had been stopped “as a matter of urgency”.

“After an incident with a prop at the beginning of Fleur and Vito’s dance-off performance, the decision was made to halt proceedings to check they were not injured, as a matter of urgency,” the spokesperson said.

Following the final performances, judge Craig Revel Horwood said it was his “responsibility” as a judge to “save the better dancer”, meanwhile Motsi Mabuse said there were “different levels of dancing on the dance floor”.

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday November 5 at 7pm, with the results show on Sunday November 6 at 7.15pm on BBC One.