Strictly Come Dancing’s Mike Bushell reveals how he deals with ‘abuse on social media’ after surviving dance off

Mike Bushell has explained how he deals with “abuse on social media” after receiving a slew of comments following this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing. 

The BBC Breakfast broadcaster and his professional partner Katya Jones ended up in the dance off for the second time on Sunday.

This time, they were up against Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe, and the panel was divided when it came to choosing who to save. 

Head judge Shirley had the casting vote and opted to save Mike and Katya, which stunned plenty of fans watching at home. 

Detailing how he has dealt with the negative comments that followed the results show, Mike said during Monday’s BBC Breakfast: “As a non-dancer all I can do is put the hours in, do my best and get through it. 

“You have to rise above the abuse on social media, that’s one of the sad things about social media.”

“All you can do is do your best, accept the judges’ decision and move on.”

He continued: “Johannes and Catherine are lovely people, I didn’t want to see them go but someone has to go.

“It’s like football – you have to accept the referee’s decision. [The judges] are the best judges in the world, they do know what they’re talking about, if they’d sent me home that would have been the best decision, I can’t get involved in any of that.

“I just have to concentrate on improving, and if Katya is happy with what I’m doing then I’m happy.”

Mike and Katya had finished in eighth place on Saturday night’s Strictly leaderboard, while Catherine and Johannes were ninth. 

Chris Ramsey and Karen Hauer were last, in tenth place, but received enough public votes to avoid the dance off. 

Will Bayley and Janette Manrara were absent from the special Halloween week episode, after the Paralympian suffered an injury in rehearsals. They received a bye into the next round. 

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday at 7pm.