Strictly's Pete Wicks chokes back tears after making it through to semi-finals despite being bottom of the leaderboard amid claims he's the unlikely 'people's champion' and could WIN

Strictly's Pete Wicks chocked back tears after he avoided the dance off and made it through to next week's semi-finals on Sunday, amid claims his less than polished perfomance could actually see him win the show. Strictly's Pete Wicks, 36, chocked back tears after he avoided the dance off and made it through to next week's semi-finals on Sunday The TOWIE star and partner Jowita Przystał, 39, sailed onto the next round despite being bottom of the leaderboard during Musicals Week As a result Montell Douglas and Tasha Ghouri were pitted against each other in the dance-off, before the Gladiators star and Johannes Radebe were given the boot Racing to X fans fumed: 'Whoever is voting for Pete over Montell needs to take a long hard look in the mirror': 'Pete is not on the level of any of them… not fair to have Montell & Tasha in the dance off! After learning he'd made it through and emotional Pete spoke with close Claudia Winkleman saying: 'I am speechless every week, especially this week' Pete collapsed into tears after the news was announced and threw his arms around Jowita Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard: Week Eight 1. The Gladiators staand her professional partner Johannes Radebe landed in the bottom two of the public vote for the third week in a row, up against Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec Despite narrowly missing out on a place in the next week's semi-finals, Montell gushed about her experience on the show, as she described how her confidence had grown, while Johannes had become her 'friend and brother' While they seemed in absolute awe of the star's routine, they were convinced the song was very 'slow' compared to the zesty dance - a point noted by several of the judges, who gave her a score of 32 points out of 40.