Overwhelming public support for South Shields comedian Chris Ramsey sees him sail through to next round of Strictly Come Dancing

The South Shields entertainer was overwhelmed by support from the public who voted for him to stay on the show for another week.

And this week’s Halloween special was one of the toughest rounds yet for Chris who performed a Samba with dance partner Karen Hauer to Backstreet Boys’ Everybody on Saturday night’s episode.

He faced criticism from the judges who gave him a score of just 23 points out of 40 which saw the pair ending the evening in bottom place on the leader board out of 10 couples.

Following their score Ramsey said “my hips have moved more this week than they have in my life” and still declared himself happy with the judges’ marks by saying: “I’ll take that.”

But they still faced a tense wait to see if the public could give them enough votes to avoid a dance-off eliminator.

And they weren’t disappointed – with the couple discovering they had made it safely through to the next round off thanks to the support of viewers.

Following the announcement, which came early on in the show compared to previous weeks, Chris couldn’t hide his shock at finding out he would dance again, shouting ‘thank you’ to those who had backed him.

Speaking after the result was announced Chris said: “We have somehow survived Halloween and that is thanks to the public voting!”

On Strictly itself, Chris added: “It has taken over my life, but I love it.

“It’s in my head constantly – I dream about it and I wake up thinking about it!”

Meanwhile Mike Bushell and Katya Jones were in the dance-off on Strictly.

The pair competed against Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe to stay in the competition.

But it was Catherine and Johannes who were sent home in a emotional end to the episode.

The remaining couples will take to the Strictly dance floor next Saturday at 7pm.

Share your own messages of support for Chris and Karen with the Gazette using #VoteChris and #TeamChrisRamsey.