Emotional Balvinder Sopal reveals moment she knew it was ‘game over’ for her on Strictly

Balvinder Sopal has revealed the moment she knew her fate had been sealed after being eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing.

The EastEnders star, 47, had a turbulent ride on the BBC dance series, in which she was paired with newcomer pro Julian Caillon, 30.

Together, they emerged victorious from a record-breaking five dance-offs before their luck ran out in the semi-final, leading to their sad departure from the ballroom.

Reflecting on her Strictly journey after an emotional weekend, Balvinder told It Takes Two host Fleur East that she knew it would be near-impossible to beat Amber Davies in the bottom two.

In Sunday night’s dance-off, having performed twice this weekend, Balvinder and Julian chose to do their salsa to Gloria Estefan’s Rhythm Is Gonna Get You and Get On Your Feet for a second time, before Amber and Nikita Kuzmin reprised their couple’s choice to Raye’s cover of Fly Me To The Moon.

Asked how ‘nervous’ she was to go up against the West End performer, Balvinder said on Monday night: ‘So, I wasn’t nervous, but I will say this: Amber is a wonderful, wonderful contestant and a wonderful woman.

‘She is of a different calibre.’

Amber scored a perfect 40 for her routine on Saturday night, sending her soaring up the leaderboard, something she’s become accustomed to during her Strictly stint.

‘Going up against Amber, honestly, was game over for us,’ Balvinder confessed. ‘Because we’re not of that level, we’re not of that standard; I certainly wasn’t.

‘I came into the competition as a novice; I couldn’t literally work the rise and fall of a waltz step. I didn’t know anything, really.’

Chiming in, Australian choreographer Julian mused: ‘But I think we did what we always do, no matter who we’ve ever been in the dance-off with.’

‘We give it our best!’, declared Balvinder.

‘We’ve always just said, “Let’s just focus on us, let’s do what we do, let’s try and top our performance from before”,’ shared Julian.

A proud Bal then stated: ‘We gave as good as we got!’

Prior to Balvinder, the Strictly contestant to face the most dance-offs was pop star Jamelia in the 2015 series with her partner Tristan MacManus.

Speculating on why she believes she failed to secure enough public votes to send her through safely some weeks, Balvinder said that she doesn’t believe viewers had a chance to ‘catch her vibe’.

The soap star pointed out that people who don’t watch EastEnders ‘know very little about [her]’, adding in an Instagram caption: ‘But we hope you can feel our energy, connect, see who we are & what we represent through our dances which are filled with passion and story.’

Nevertheless, she exited the competition with her head held high and has been widely praised for her ‘resilience’ throughout, having been determined to say ‘yes’ to more things in the year after her mum died.

She also told host Tess Daly after the judges’ unanimous verdict to save Amber that she ‘adored every single minute’.

‘All the dance-offs, all the challenges, but just more than anything, just being in this building and dancing on this floor with such an amazing human being. It was my “Yes Year,” and I said yes to Strictly. My family, we’ve had some hard times, but they’ve been here.’

Tess then asked Balvinder what the partnership meant and what she had to say to Julian.

‘I mean, I have no words, actually,’ she began sweetly. ‘You’ve been brilliant in every sense of the word.

‘When I wobbled, and when I felt really brilliant about the dance and got the steps right, you’ve just held me in your hands, and you’ve gone, “Bal, we’ve got this. It’s just me and you, and we’re gonna do this together.”

Reciprocating the fondness, Julian told Bal directly: ‘It took six dance-offs and a perfect score to take this lady out, so I am so, so proud of you!’

The professional later took to social media with a tribute to his first Strictly partner, declaring their journey the ‘ride of a lifetime’.

‘Will share more in the days to come, but for now I just want to say how proud I am of @leesopal!’, Julian’s caption said. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in my first season and you are just an incredible woman and simply inspirational.

‘Thank you to everyone that has supported team Balian we couldn’t have achieved any of it without you.

‘Congrats to all the finalists, it’s incredible deserved and I can’t wait to cheer you all on [sic]’.

The Strictly 2025 finalists now are Amber and Nikita, Karen Carney and Carlos Gu, and George Clarke and Alexis Warr.

This year’s final consists of just three pairings due to several early withdrawals from the competition, with Kristian Nairn and Dani Dyer pulling out with injuries early doors.

Stefan Dennis was later left with no choice but to withdraw due to a calf injury, while Drag Race icon La Voix dipped out after Blackpool Week in flamboyant style – ankle boot in tow.

The Strictly Come Dancing 2025 final airs on Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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