South Shields comedian Chris Ramsey faces battle to ghost his way into next Strictly Come Dancing week

The South Shields comedian scored 23 points out of 40 with professional dance partner Karen Hauer for their Halloween-themed Samba to the Backstreet Boys’ Everybody in Saturday night’s episode.

They ended the evening in bottom place on the leader board out of 10 couples and must now wait to see if the public can give them enough votes to avoid a dance-off eliminator.

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

Prior to their dance, the pair spoke on camera about how they were to portray ghosts who come alive to the sound of music in a theatre.

Ramsey then quipped: “It is not the first time I have died in the theatre.”

Nor did the judges miss the opportunity to use some ghoulish gags when marking him during the Halloween-themed episode.

Craig Revel Horwood, giving Ramsey five out of 10, said to Ramsey: “You did look as though you came back from the dead.”

Bruno Tonioli, who gave him six, said the “the whole thing worked in a spooky way” and added: “I do not think I have ever seen something so good in a horrible way before.”

Fellow judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse also gave the pair six marks each.

Sharing a snap of his Halloween make-up on Twitter, Ramsey earlier appealed to public voters: “It’s Halloween today on Strictly! The show starts at 6:45pm and voting opens at 8:20pm #VoteRamsey.”

The overall week six results will be revealed on BBC1 on Sunday, October 27, from 7.15pm when the public’s and judges’ votes will be combined to see which two couples face a dance off on the night to remain in the contest.

Paralympic table tennis player Will Bayley and Janette Manrara have received a bye after Bayley injured himself during the week while practising for this weekend’s performance.

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