Strictly's Layton Williams gets seal of approval from Gene Kelly's widow Patricia Ward for his iconic Charleston ahead of the final after rare standing ovation from Craig Revel Horwood

Strictly Come Dancing's Layton Williams has received a special seal of approval from Gene Kelly's widow Patricia Ward for his perfect Charleston last week. Strictly Come Dancing 's Layton Williams has received a special seal of approval from Gene Kelly's widow Patricia Ward for his perfect Charleston last week The actor and his professional dance partner Nikita Kuzmin bagged a perfect 40 for the second week running for their version of Gene and Donald O'Connor's jig to Fit As A Fiddle Gene and Patricia tied the knot in 1990 when he was 77 and she was aged 31. As well as the high-praise from Patricia herself, Layton and Nikita received a standing ovation from Craig Revel Horwood during Saturday night's semi-final They first danced the Rumba to Lift Me Up by Rihanna, which they got 36 out of 40 points for, before leaving Craig, 58, gobsmacked by their Charleston The pair appeared completely overwhelmed upon getting their scores and Nikita broke down in tears as he paid tribute to his dance partner Nikita made a cryptic comment about Layton still bringing 'joy' to people despite what happens in his 'personal life' as he hinted at difficulties Talking about the hateful comments sent to him online, Layton said: 'It's like: "Can you not just dress like a man, please please please put a suit on!" Their latest dance comes after Nikita hit back at trolls who have continued to make hurtful comments about Layton during his Strictly stint The pair addressed the ongoing trolling during a joint appearance on ITV's This Morning last week, with Nikita describing it as 'sad and unnecessary' Layton also recently took to X, formerly known as Twitter, urging harsh critics to 'use their energy to shower with love', rather than writing hurtful comments Elsewhere this week, the identity of Layton's mystery boyfriend was revealed after the couple enjoyed a romantic trip away last month.