Who left Strictly 2021? Week 2 results explained - and what happened in Nina Wadia v Katie McGlynn dance off

Following what has been described as one of the closest dance offs in Strictly history, the dancing competition waved goodbye to its first celebrity.

Week two saw the scoring table get flipped on its head, with week one strugglers, Tilly Ramsay and Dragon’s Den’ star Sara Davies, head to the top table after blitzing performances.

After the scores were totalled up from week one, the viewers got their first opportunity to vote for their favourites.

Find out below who made it to the dance off and who was the first contestant to leave Strictly Come Dancing 2021.

Who was in the Week 2 Dance Off?

The first dance off of Strictly Come Dancing 2021 was between Nadia Wadia and Katie McGylnn.

Nadia Wadia and her partner Neil Jones were bottom of the leaderboard in week two, whose tango scored just 18 points.

Katie McGlynn and her partner Gorka Marquez competed in the dance off with their week two jive.

Who left Strictly in week 2?

Nadia Wadia and Neil Jones were the first couple to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing 2021.

The couple lost out against Katie McGlynn and Gorka Marquez, in what has been labelled one of the closest dance offs Strictly’s ever seen.

Judge Craig Revel Horwood said: “Both couples clearly upped their game from the first time they danced. Nina, you got every step right. Katie, you really kept the energy up all the way through to the end with lots of retraction.” Horwood chose to save Katie.

Judge Motsi Mabuse also chose to save Katie and Gorka, saying: “I really thought that both of you gave absolutely all that you’ve got and gave the best performance you did tonight. I just found that one couple was just that little bit more convincing so that is why I’m going to go with Katie and Gorka.”

New judge Anton Du Beke added to the drama, opting to vote to keep Nina in the dancing competition. He said: “This is exactly how you want a dance off to be. You want to do your best performance and I think you both did. This is the best you’ve done both dances. The one who upped their game and performed the best I think was Nina and Neil.”

The final vote landed on head judge Shirley Ballas. Before casting her vote she said:  “This is one of the closest battles I think we’ve ever had in a dance off, Both couples upped their game. Both couples were absolutely delightful to watch. Neither couple had mistakes so I’ve decided to go with the couple who had more advanced technical actions in their dance and that couple is Katie and Gorka.”

After the result was revealed, Nina said: “It’s been really fun, thank you so much. [Neil] is incredible, thank you.”

Her partner, Neil added: “You’ve been a dream. Second partner on the show for me. I wouldn’t have wanted anybody else. You’ve been fantastic and so much fun. Literally, we’re like a married couple – you’ve got both husbands here tonight! It’s been so much fun together, you said you wanted to dance and you’ve done two fantastic dances and I’m really, really, really proud of you.”

Strictly Week 2 Full Leaderboard

• AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington – Foxtrot 34 + 31 = 65
• John Whaite and Johannes Rabede – Cha Cha 30 + 31 = 61
• Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu – Cha Cha 27 + 30 = 57
• Tilly Ramsay and Nikita Kuzmin – Charleston 21 + 34 = 55
• Sara Davies and Aljaž Škorjanec – Foxtrot 17 + 34 = 51
• Dan Walker and Nadiya Bychkova – Paso Doble 24 + 26= 50
• = Adam Peaty and Katya Jones – Quickstep 30 + 19 = 49
• = 7. Judi Love and Graziano Di Prima – Samba 24 + 25 = 49
• Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice – Salsa 22 + 26 = 48
• Greg Wise and Karen Hauer – Couple’s Choice 24 + 23 = 47
• = 9. Robert Webb and Dianne Buswell – Tango 20 + 27 = 47
• Katie McGlynn and Gorka Marquez – Jive 22 + 21 = 43
• = 10. Ugo Monye and Oti Mabuse – Quickstep 18 + 25 = 43
• Nina Wadia and Neil Jones – Tango 24 +18 = 42

When is Strictly Come Dancing next on TV?

Strictly Come Dancing week three will air on BBC One at 6:45pm on Saturday 9 October.

The show is available to catch up on BBC iPlayer.