Strictly Come Dancing began with a surprising announcement on Saturday, 22 November, leaving viewers, and the contestants, in a state of shock.
La Voix, after being granted a bye to the next round of the competition due to an injury last week, has been forced to withdraw from the competition, meaning that no other contestant will leave the show this week.
© BBC/Guy LevySpeaking at the beginning of this week's episode, presenter Tess Daly broke the news, saying: "Now, as you may have heard, La Voix sustained an injury, meaning that she can't dance in Blackpool tonight.
"Following further advice from our medical team, we can now confirm she has, very sadly, had to withdraw from the competition."
Her fellow presenter Claudia Winkleman added: "We will be speaking to La Voix on tomorrow night's show. We love you so, so much."
However, when Tess announced that there would be no contestant leaving Strictly during the Blackpool specials, with no dance-off planned and votes set to be carried over to next week, the other contestants and professional dancers were seen running to and hugging one another, suggesting that this was news to them, too.
La Voix broke her silence following her withdrawal
The 45-year-old drag queen took to Instagram to comment on her withdrawal, writing: "I’m absolutely devastated to be withdrawing from Strictly Come Dancing. This isn’t the glittering exit I ever imagined, and it breaks my heart to feel like I’m letting people down.
Her statement continued: "My spirit wanted to keep dancing but my foot has other ideas. Thank you for every cheer, every vote, and every sparkle of support – it’s meant the world to me. This isn’t the ending I imagined, but I’ll cherish this forever."
The former RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestant was paired with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec, and could be seen watching the show in the audience at Blackpool. La Voix was the second contestant to pull out of this year's competition, following Neighbours star Stefan Dennis withdrawing a month ago.
Fans were devastated by the news
Immediately, Strictly viewers took to social media to share their thoughts, with one X user writing: "La Voix was one of the most iconic people ever to be on #strictly. It's so sad she won't be returning but she won't be forgotten! Still maintaining the petition for her to return as presenter."
Another added: "Oh how horribly sad. Not a nice ending but what a superstar La Voix has been."
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray BurmistonReferring to the visible relief upon the dancers' faces when they saw that no one would be eliminated, another viewer penned: "I genuinely don't think they knew this was going to happen. Absolutely gutted that this is at the expense of La Voix but THRILLED for them all."
Agreeing on the decision to allow all the contestants to progress, a fourth commenter added: "Shame La Voix left but right decision to have no dance off, look how happy everyone was. Perfect timing, too, as it makes Blackpool week extra special."
Lewis Cope topped the leaderboard
The former Emmerdale actor, penned as a favourite to win this year's competition, and his partner Katya Jones topped the leaderboard with a perfect score of 40, after dancing a Charleston to the hit Arctic Monkeys song, 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy LevyKaren Carney and Carlos Gu were close, scoring 39 with their paso doble to Carmina Burana's 'O Fortuna', as were TikTok star George Clarke and his professional partner Alexis Warr, who got the same score for their salsa to Bob Sinclar's 'Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)'.
