Strictly star calls final a 'two person race' with one couple on 'lower level'
The Strictly Come Dancing final will be a tight race between two couples - but Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell won’t stand a chance, according to former show professional Brendan Cole.
Saturday will see the judges preside over the last of the 2023 contestants once final time as 20-year-old Bobby and 34-year-old Dianne will compete against 22-year-old Ellie Leach and her dance partner Vito Coppola, 31, and 29-year-old Layton Williams and his dance partner Nikita Kuzmin, 25. Anton Du Beke, 57, will be judging alongside Motsi Mabuse, 42, Craig Revel Horwood, 58, and head judge Shirley Ballas, 63, as the 21st season of the long-running BBC dance show reaches a climax.
And while Bobby was an early favourite to win the 2023 season, he has been left behind when compared to fellow contestants Ellie and Layton. Last weekend, Bobby and Dianne avoided being voted off as they ended up in the bottom alongside tennis star Annabel Croft, 57, and her dance partner Johannes Radebe, 36.
But according to 47-year-old Brendan, Bobby and Dianne might as well have just skipped off last weekend anyway - as he thinks they don’t stand a chance of winning the show. The star - who was a professional on Strictly from 2004 to 2017 - says he would have sent Bobby or Annabel home last week following the dance off if he were judging the contestants himself.
Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell don't stand a chance of winning Strictly Come Dancing - according to Brendan Cole (PA)Addressing the fact that Annabel slipped during her Salsa performance, Brendan said: “I felt very sorry for her obviously, but I’m not sure it would have mattered. It was either going to be her or Bobby who left because they are unlikely to contest for the win.
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“It’s great Bobby and Dianne have made the final, it’s lovely for them, but I don’t see them being finalists in the same way as Ellie or Layton. They [Bobby and Dianne] appear to be on a different level to the other finalists.”
Brendan continued: “Bobby and Dianne have pretty much done the same thing with every number, nothing has looked particularly different. They have done a couple of really nice numbers but across the board they’ve been on a lower level to the others in the final, that’s not to say that he hasn’t done really well.
Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola have excelled during the 2023 contest (BBC/Guy Levy)
Nikita Kuzmin and Layton Williams are also in with a chance of winning (BBC/Guy Levy)“Therefore, for me, we are looking at a two-person final rather than a three-person final, but it would have been the same if Annabel had stayed in this week. I would have preferred her to be in the final because of her journey on the show. Also, with what she’s been through this year, it has been an epic story and for that reason I’d have liked to have seen her in the final.”
Annabel took part in Strictly, signing up in order to pay tribute to her late husband, Mel Coleman - who passed away aged 60 earlier this year following a battle against cancer. Mel had been a huge fan of Strictly, and Annabel has discussed how she hoped to do him proud by performing on the show - while also embracing the competition to help her combat her grief.
She said previously: “Obviously the grief comes in waves and there are many days where you’re just sobbing at home, but with Strictly and meeting Johannes and going on this journey together, it literally has distracted me from all of that pain. And there are days – I mean, poor Johannes has had to cope with quite a few in the rehearsal rooms and everything. But you [Johannes] give me so much purpose to get up in a morning and come and dance.”
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