Strictly star misses out on grand final after breaking show record

Strictly Come Dancing's Balvinder Sopal voted out as she misses grand final

There are now just three celebrities left fighting for the Glitterball trophy in next weekend's final after EastEnders' Balvinder Sopal was voted out of the competition

Strictly Semi final line up

Four couples were fighting it out in the Strictly semi final (

Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy)

Strictly Come Dancing's 2025 finalists have been revealed - after another couple went home following the show’s semi-final dance off.

EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal, 47, and her professional partner Julian Callion competed in their record-breaking sixth Strictly dance-off against reality TV star Amber Davies and her dance partner Nikita Kuzmin when their luck finally ran out.

Sopal and Callion performed their salsa to Gloria Estefan's Rhythm Is Gonna Get You and Get On Your Feet for a second time, before Davies and Kuzmin reprised their couple's choice to Raye's cover of Fly Me To The Moon. All four judges voted to save Davies and Kuzmin.

The result means Davies will be up against England Lionesses footballer Karen Carney and social media star George Clarke in the final. Carney, who topped Saturday's leaderboard with a joint score of 78 for her two dances, has now become the first footballer to reach the show's final.

Balvinder has been voted out (

Image:

PA)

On her exit, Sopal said of her time on the show: "Everyone's been brilliant. The minute you walk into this building, it's like a massive hug. Every single time. I've walked in, people have just held me and gone 'you know, you're all right', it's such a wonderful place to work.

"(To the judges) thank you, Claud (Winkleman) and Tess (Daly), I'm grateful that I got to be on the show on your last moment here as well, because you, for me, you and Claudia, are what Strictly is about.

"You're the era of Len Goodman and (Sir) Bruce Forsyth, and that's when I started watching it, and that, for me, is really special. This year, it's been full of so many serendipitous moments. I'm so lucky, and I'm really, very grateful.”

The actress had been in the dance off six times (

Image:

PA)

The results show also featured a surprise for presenters Daly and Winkleman ahead of their departure from Strictly after this year's Christmas special. The pair were shown a highlights package of their time on the show, featuring new interviews from the judges and footage from their early years working with Sir Bruce.

The judges, with help from Strictly professional dancer Kai Widdrington, then awarded the presenters with their own glitterball trophy.

According to AI technology and reports online, Karen Carney will win the final. In fact, according to ChatGPT, they already know the identity of this year’s winner. The prediction site said that Karen Carney and Carlos Gu will win this year’s competition.

In reality, ChatGPT would have no way of knowing the result, with the final taking place live next week. But it is likely to have based its statement on the fact that Karen was top of the leaderboard this week on the dance contest. Bookmakers have Karen and George around even money favourites each with Davies a 20/1 outsider.

Strictly Come Dancing 2025's grand final airs at 7pm next Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Both of this weekend's episodes are available to watch on iPlayer.

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