James Bye says being in the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ dance-off was “one of the worst experiences” of his life.
James Bye didn't like being in the Strictly dance-off
The ‘EastEnders’ star did not enjoy being in the bottom two against his fellow competitor Fleur East, 35, on the BBC One Latin and ballroom contest on Sunday night (30.10.22), and he went on to be eliminated from the show.
While appearing on ‘Strictly: It Takes Two’ on Monday (31.10.22) alongside his professional partner Amy Dowden, the 38-year-old actor told host Rylan Clark: “It’s up there with one of the worst experiences of my life, especially being up against Fleur. She knows what she is doing, she is very good, and I love her to bits, it’s horrible competing with someone who I’ve got close with and I know is a lovely person, and I knew I was going to go!”
James felt he and 32-year-old Amy “did our best”, and he praised “incredible” Fleur after she and her professional partner Vito Coppola were saved by the judging panel, which is made up of Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke, and Motsi Mabuse.
He said: “It’s never a nice place to be of course, but there is only so much control you have, all you can do is go out and give it your best and hope you don’t mess up.
"The standard is getting better and better, and some dances you will excel at, the quickstep felt like it was one of my dances, but for whatever reason the judge didn’t feel like the Charleston was one of my stronger dances and that’s just the game.
"We did our best, and I am happy to leave the competition in those circumstances. We had the best time, and we danced it as well as we could have danced it, and Fleur is incredible!”
Amy added: “We had a chat and I told him, you’ve got to go out there and fight. But most importantly go and have fun!”
James - who plays Martin Fowler on the BBC One soap - admitted to having no regrets during his stint on the show.
He said: “Also it’s 90 seconds! I think its worst case scenario if you don’t commit and then have regrets, but I don’t think we did, I really think I left nothing up there.”
‘Strictly - It Takes Two’ continues every weeknight at 6:30pm on BBC Two and Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday and Sunday nights on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Tagged in Claudia Winkleman Tess Daly Fleur East