Lesley Joseph leaves Strictly after dance off against Daisy Lowe

Lesley Joseph has become the fifth celebrity to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

The Birds Of A Feather actress was eliminated after all four judges voted to save model and fellow Jewish contestant Daisy Lowe in the dance-off on Sunday night.

Joseph paid tribute to her professional partner Anton Du Beke after she received the news, saying: “Learning a new dance every week has just been lovely, working with him (Anton) has been an absolute joy and we’ve laughed a lot.

“And, yeah, it’s been just a lovely, lovely, lovely journey and it’s come to an end and that’s absolutely fine. We’ve loved it.”

When asked by Tess Daly what she would miss most, she said it would be Du Beke.

The professional also spoke of his affection for his partner, telling Joseph: “I would just like to say thank you very much, you enriched my whole Strictly experience this year.

“Dancing with you has been an absolute joy. You pushed me, I don’t know about me pushing you, you pushed me to try and be more creative and make the numbers better and that’s just down to you and you’re just an absolute joy. And I love you dearly.”

The duo had scored 24 points from the judges for their Tango to Whatever Lola Wants by Gotan Project, while Lowe and her partner Aljaz Skorjanec were in joint fourth place with 32 points for their Charleston to Happy Feet by Manhattan Rhythm Kings.

The judges all opted to save Lowe, with Craig Revel Horwood saying: “I love both couples for completely different reasons. But for me tonight, for precision, for an improved performance in this particular Dance Off, and finishing on time, the couple I would like to save is Daisy and Aljaz.”

Darcey Bussell added: “Again this is very difficult, I wouldn’t want these two couples here at all, and to choose between them is very difficult. But the couple I would like to save on their cleanness and the quality of their dance that stood out to me is Daisy and Aljaz.”

Ore Oduba topped the judges’ leaderboard during Saturday’s live show for a second week running, after scoring 36 points for his classic waltz.

Meanwhile Ed Balls, who stepped onto the dance floor fresh from his first spray tan on Friday, received just 18 points for his dance to (Is This The Way To) Amarillo.

The former shadow chancellor came close to dropping his professional partner Katya Jones during a lift as they performed an American Smooth on Saturday’s show.

Despite the blunder, he went through to next week’s show.

Balls took to Twitter to thank his fans for saving him over Joseph: “Big love to Lesley and thanks for all your votes!”

Bookies are rating the remaining Jewish contestants Robert Rinder and Daisy Lowe at 33/1 and 20/1 to win.

The remaining 10 couples will take to the dance floor next week for a Fright Night Halloween special when Strictly Come Dancing returns on October 29.