Saffron Barker And AJ Pritchard Reveal They Begged Strictly Bosses To Let Them Skip The Samba

25 November 2019, 14:26

Saffron Barker lost her place in the 2019 series of Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night.

YouTube star Saffron Barker and Strictly partner AJ Pritchard ‘tried to get out’ of dancing the Samba, it’s been revealed.

The pair have said they begged show bosses to let them skip the South American dance but were told they had to do it.

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Saffron told a tabloid: “We tried to get out of dancing the Samba but they wouldn’t let us.”

When asked if he thinks he’s a victim of the ‘samba curse’, AJ added: "You should ask production if they think that.”

AJ has been voted off twice before his Samba in the past.

Opening up about the ‘curse’ on It Takes Two earlier this week, the professional dancer said: “Unfortunately the past two years I've gone out on a samba.

"This is not going to happen. This is going to be the year. Samba curse gone."

Saffron added: "It's like really sad. I'm praying. Every year it's happened to him. We can't let it happen again."

Fast forward to Sunday night, and the pair found themselves in the bottom two for a second week along with BBC presenter Karim Zeroual. 

Saffron was noticeably devastated to be leaving the competition on Sunday, but said she’d had ‘the absolute time’ of her life dancing on the show.

She said: “I’ve had the absolute time of my life and it’s all down to him [AJ]. It’s been amazing.

“I’d like to thank AJ so much, when I look at what I was like on week one I was so embarrassed and shy.

“He’s really taken me out of my shell. Thank you so much for everything.”

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