It was a big night for one Strictly Come Dancing star, as Alex Kingston was moved to tears after making show history during week four of the BBC dancing competition. Taking to the ballroom with her professional partner Johannes Radebe on Saturday night, the Doctor Who actress performed a showstopping rumba to Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car', which left all four judges stunned. After finishing their dance, judge Shirley Ballas remained standing while she clapped the pair as they made their way over to host Tess Daly, before leaving her seat and heading to Alex to give her a personal congratulations.
"You have Shirley – the queen of rumba – on her feet," remarked Tess, before Shirley left the judges' desk to make it to Alex and Johannes. "I have to come down here. I have to tell you. In all… I'm going to get emotional," said Shirley. "In all my time on Strictly, I have never seen a pair of legs work like that. Every close in place, every forward walk turning, just an absolute perfect routine for me. Your choreography was stunning. The way the temperature was between the two of you was portrayed beautifully. May I give the queen a kiss? That was fantastic."
© BBC/Guy LevyMaking Strictly history
As Shirley leaned in to give Alex a hug, the actress was moved to tears, saying: "I'm going to cry" as she squeezed Shirley back. Wiping away her tears, Alex turned to hug Tess, who seemed equally as shocked by Shirley's reaction and said: "That's never happened before in Strictly history." After Alex admitted she could "rumba all night long", Tess said: "Oh, darling, will you please for us! We'd love it if you did. Let's see what the rest of the judges thought – goodness me, I wish I had a tissue for you!"
© BBC/Guy LevyThe other judges' reactions
As the studio turned to see what Anton Du Beke had to say, he simply exclaimed "Oh" and wordlessly headed towards Alex to give her a handshake. "Well done," he said, before turning back to his place at the desk. As usual, Craig Revel Horwood had a note of criticism: "I would have liked to see you extend…" to which he was quickly interrupted by booing audience members and fellow judges. He couldn't quite follow through on the critique, though, as he ended with: "You are becoming quite a dancer. You really are." Meanwhile, Motsi Mabuse added: "This was on a whole different level."
The final scores
Later on, when the judges' scores were revealed, the duo of the night received a near-perfect score of 36, with Shirley unsurprisingly awarding them a 10. "We have never ever had a 10 for a rumba in week four," host Claudia Winkleman admitted. The showstopping rumba left Alex and Johannes standing triumphantly at the top spot in this week's leaderboard, closely followed by Emmerdale star Lewis Cope and Katya Jones with 34 and West End actress Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin with 33.
