91Èȱ¬

Actress Natalie Cassidy tonight became the tenth celebrity to be voted off the seventh series of 91Èȱ¬ One's Strictly Come Dancing.

In week eleven of the competition the five remaining celebrity contestants and their professional dance partners took to the floor to perform either a charleston or a rock 'n' roll dance – the first time ever that either of these dances had been danced competitively on the show.

In another Strictly first, and echoing traditional ballroom competitions, the couples had to perform a judged group dance. All the couples took to the floor together to dance a Viennese waltz. Each couple was scored individually by the judges and the scores were added to their totals on the judge's leader board.

After tonight's performance, the combination of the judges' scores and viewers' votes left Natalie Cassidy and her professional partner Vincent Simone in the bottom two and facing the dance off with actor Ricky Whittle and his professional partner Natalie Lowe.

Ricky and Natalie then performed their rock 'n' roll dance to Hound Dog and Natalie and Vincent performed their rock 'n' roll dance to Long Tall Sally for a second time for the judges' deciding vote.

Making their decision on who to save, the judges said:

Craig Revel Horwood: "Well this couple danced the best I've ever seen them dance in the competition so far and that's Ricky and Natalie."

Alesha Dixon: "I'd like to say congratulations to both couples for making it this far, you're both winners, but the couple I'd like to keep is Ricky and Natalie."

Bruno Tonioli: "The couple I'd like to save, I think, was much much better the second time around – Ricky and Natalie."

With three votes cast in their favour, Ricky and Natalie were saved and through to next weeks show, making Head Judge Len Goodman's vote academic, however he also said he would have chosen to keep Ricky and Natalie making it a unanimous decision.

When asked if she'd enjoyed her time on the show a tearful Natalie said: "I've had the most amazing time and you know that. It's been the best experience, the best experience, really."

On tonight's show Natalie and Vincent were awarded a total of 26 points for their rock 'n' roll dance and seven points for their group Viennese waltz by the judges giving them a final total of 33 points.

In a TV exclusive, having never performed the song together on television before, chart toppers James Morrison and Nelly Furtardo sang their top ten hit Broken Strings and there was a show-stopping performance by Riverdance who are celebrating their 15th anniversary.

In addition to this, Strictly's professional dancers Matthew Cutler, Aliona Vilani, Brendan Cole and Katya Virshilas performed a twist on the traditional foxtrot by dancing a 'roxtrot' to the Muse song Time Is Running Out.

In next week's quarter finals world renowned ballerina Darcey Bussell joins the judging panel to give her opinion on the remaining four couples. From next week Strictly will also split into two shows. The main show will start at 6.40pm with a separate results show at 9.40pm.

As the competition nears the final stages the pressure is really on as the celebrities and their professional partners battle it out against each other in the hope of making it through to the end.

Notes to Editors

Strictly Come Dancing is available on 91Èȱ¬ One and 91Èȱ¬ HD. Tune in to the next episode on Saturday 5 December 2009, at 6.40pm, with the results show at 9.40pm.

Don't forget you can get all the up-to-date gossip on Strictly Come Dancing's sister show, It Takes Two, weekdays at 6.30pm on 91Èȱ¬ Two.

For more information and gossip, visit bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing or follow us on Twitter: bbcstrictly.

IV/RB/KS3