Strictly Come Dancing 2021: Nadiya Bychkova lovingly praises Dan Walker after emotional exit: ‘Your friendship gave me wings to fly again’

Strictly Come Dancing’s Nadiya Bychkova stressed just how much her friendship with Dan Walker means to her as she joined tonight’s episode of It Takes Two.

The pair became the 10th partnership to be eliminated from the BBC competition show on Sunday night, after losing to AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington in the dace-off.

Joining presenter Rylan Clark-Neal on the spin-off programme, Nadiya told Dan that he gave her the confidence to be herself in front of the camera.

‘You managed to create that environment for me where I felt safe, and I felt free to be myself for the first time,’ she exclaimed.

‘Your friendship gave me wings to fly again. Thank you very much.’

‘I think I’m going to cry,’ Rylan said as he listened to Nadiya’s tribute.

Nadiya said that her friendship with Dan has given her confidence to be herself (Picture: BBC)

‘Dancing is one thing, but friendship is important, and I think it means a lot to both of us,’ Dan added. ‘That’s the ultimate compliment that anyone could ever pay to me.’

Dan went on to say that he believed his last performance on Saturday was the best he has danced in his entire life.

Dan was eliminated from the show on Sunday (Picture: BBC)

‘I’ve loved every dance we’ve done and each week has been my favourite, and I told Nadiya on the Monday when she showed me the choreography, I said, “I already love it, I can’t wait to dance it on Saturday”.

‘And that was the best I’ve danced in my entire life, in front of 10 million people, and it’s a good way to go out.’

More: Strictly Come Dancing

However, he stressed that he believed ‘overwhelmingly’ that the ‘best four dancers’ got into the semi-final.

Four couples – TV presenter Odudu and Widdrington, EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice, Bake Off winner John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, and CCBC host Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu – remain in the competition for the semi-finals

It Takes Two airs weeknights at 6.30pm on BBC Two.

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