Layton Williams encouraged fans to "choose joy" on Monday, as he addressed the "hateful" comments that he's been receiving. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the Strictly Come Dancing star shared a couple of behind-the-scenes photos from his recent salsa performance, alongside an emotional message.
"Instead of coming at me with hateful comments, use your energy to shower your fave celeb with love instead," he began. "Pretty sure it will make us all feel much better! #ChooseJoy x."
Following his tweet, Layton, 29, was immediately inundated with messages of support. "Ignore the hate Layton. You are fantastic and we [love] you. People can be nasty behind their keyboards when really they are jealous and envious of how amazing you are!" wrote one.
© Anthony Devlin"So unbelievably sad that people think it's okay to be hateful, you are doing fantastic, ignore the lot of them!" added another. Meanwhile, a third penned: "I think you are the brightest, smartest, and most entertaining person I've seen in a long time. You are a total breath of fresh air."
While Layton refrained from expanding on the nature of the "hateful" comments, the last few weeks have seen the actor criticised over his previous dancing history, with some viewers arguing that it provides him with an unfair advantage.
In spite of the negative comments, Layton has continued to thrive in the ballroom, and he's been dazzling the judges week after week with his jaw-dropping performances. In an exciting moment, Layton and his partner Nikita Kumzin received a score of 39 for their salsa over the weekend – the first 39 awarded in week five for thirteen years.
© Guy LevyAfter Saturday's success, Nikita took to Instagram to share how pleased he was with the reaction to his and Layton's salsa. The professional even shared a video tutorial with his followers so they could learn the routine for themselves. The dancer wrote in the caption: "So happy with the result from last night, thank you!! And here's how you do our salsa."
In week four, the dancing duo had already scored an impressive 37 for their disco-themed Cha Cha Cha to Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston – who knows, maybe Layton and Nikita will be taking the glitterball home this year!
Every Strictly Come Dancing winner so far
- 2004: Natisha Kaplinsky (partner Brendan Cole)
- 2004: Jill Halfpenny (partner Darren Bennett)
- 2005: Darren Gough (partner Lilia Kopylova)
- 2006: Mark Ramprakash (partner Karen Hardy)
- 2007: Alesha Dixon (partner Matthew Cutler)
- 2008: Tom Chambers (partner Camilla Dallerup)
- 2009: Chris Hollins (partner Ola Jordan)
- 2010: Kara Tointon (partner Artem Chigvintsev)
- 2011: Harry Judd (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2012: Louis Smith (partner Flavia Cacace)
- 2013: Abbey Clancy (partner Aljaž Škorjanec)
- 2014: Caroline Flack (partner Pasha Kovalev)
- 2015: Jay McGuiness (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2016: Ore Oduba (partner Joanne Clifton)
- 2017: Joe McFadden (partner Katya Jones)
- 2018: Stacey Dooley (partner Kevin Clifton)
- 2019: Kelvin Fletcher (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2020: Bill Bailey (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2021: Rose Ayling-Ellis (partner Giovanni Pernice)
- 2022: Hamza Yassin (partner Jowita Przystał)
MORE: Strictly fans rush to Nikita Kuzmin and Layton Williams' defence after latest episode
READ: 10 celebrities who quit Strictly Come Dancing amid Amanda Abbington's shock exit
Next up for Layton and Nikita will be Halloween week, which will air on Saturday night, and we can't wait to see what they've got in store for us. The duo have already posted a video about their preparations, and while they haven't shared too many details about their routine, Layton revealed that Halloween is his favourite.
"Halloween is a really big week for me so hopefully we'll bring it!" he said, adding, "Another day another slay."
