Austin "gutted" over 'Strictly' exit

Austin Healey has admitted that he is "gutted" to have been voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

The former England rugby player and partner Erin Boag performed the American Smooth and the Salsa on Saturday but were eliminated after the judges chose to save Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole in the dance-off.

"I'm gutted. We gave it everything but it wasn't enough," he told Claudia Winkleman on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

Healey revealed that he "really enjoyed" the American Smooth but confessed that he agreed with the judges' criticism that he did not make it look "Hollywood". "I think maybe for me I concentrated on how the lifts looked," he said.

Boag, who called the weekend's events "awful", conceded that the scores they received from the panel sealed their fate, saying: "The marks were quite low. I don't think you can drop points at this stage in the competition. We really, really wanted to stay in."