Viscountess Emma Weymouth, 33, has spoken out about how she felt after surviving the dreaded Strictly Come Dancing 2019 dance-off. The star admitted she was “struck numb with dread” when she heard she would be facing Dev Griffin, 34, and Dianne Buswell, 30, to fight for her place in the show. The BBC Radio 1 DJ was a favourite to reach the final, but was voted out of the dance competition when the judges unanimously decided to save Emma and her professional partner Aljaž Škorjanec, 29. Speaking about her experience in her latest column for The Telegraph, the Viscountess said: “I was struck numb with dread and my heart sunk when we heard that Dev Griffin was our dance-off opponent.”
She added: “Once the four judges unanimously saved us I felt bittersweet relief and sadness to be losing Dev.”
However, in spite of her relief to be able to dance in week five, Emma revealed she was “actually on the verge of a nervous breakdown” when it was announced she was in the bottom two.
She explained: “My children watched on Saturday and innocently asked if I danced twice because everyone loved it and wanted to see it again.
“They had no idea that I was actually on the verge of a nervous breakdown in front of 8.5 million viewers.”
Emma continued: “Thinking of them spurs me on. I couldn’t crumble, not for them, not for Aljaž.
“I feel so grateful for this opportunity and, having come so close to the edge, our next dance will be a major moment to show some mettle.”
During tonight’s show, Emma will be hoping to escape the dance-off by impressing the judges with her Viennese Waltz to Saving All My Love For You by Whitney Houston.
Unfortunately, Emma’s partner Aljaž seemed to criticise her dancing earlier this week.
The Strictly pro called her dancing “average” in an Instagram video posted on his stories while giving fans an update on their training.
“24th session of Strictly Come Dancing,” Aljaz revealed, before attempting to get his companion’s attention: “Partner? boom.”
“Excited for Saturday,” the Viscountess stated.
“Me too,” the professional replied. “This is the last day of training for this dance, we haven’t been active on our social media platforms this week because we’ve been dancing the whole time!”
“Battered and bruised but still dancing,” Emma laughed.
Aljaz went on: “It’s an amazing song, the dancing is average… It’s average I’m not gonna lie.”
Emma seemed less than impressed as she reflected on her partner’s comments.
Giggling away at his joke, Aljaz reassured the star: “No you’re dong great, you’re doing great,” to which Emma replied: “Thanks.”
“You’re smashing this, you should be proud of yourself,” he praised.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.40pm on BBC One.
