Nancy Xu makes stance clear on Shayne Ward 'cocky' backlash as BBC Strictly star admits: 'I get upset'
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Nancy Xu has passionately lauded her Strictly Come Dancing partner Shayne Ward after the pair narrowly made it through another week on the BBC show.
Ward and Xu landed in the dreaded dance-off at the end of Halloween Week despite finishing midway up the leaderboard following the judges' scores.
This past weekend was the second time this series Ward and Xu had failed to endear themselves to viewers with their routine after weeks of fending off criticism about Ward's supposedly "cocky" attitude.
On Thursday, the pair faced questions about Ward's "confidence" once more during an appearance on ITV's Loose Women, with Xu doing her best to alter the public's perception.
"It's never nice, it's never nice being in the bottom two," Ward began to the panel. "I was gutted because we worked so hard all week in the rehearsal hall and it's never easy.
"There are a lot of emotions... You never quite know how the public are going to take the dance but I love what (Nancy) choreographed but yeah, it was gutting to be in the bottom two."
Nancy Xu appeared on ITV's Loose Women on Thursday
ITV
Ward went on to praise Xu for being "by my side 100 percent" and "awesome" before Denise Welch turned her attention to Xu: "It must be hard for you, Nancy, because you must see it's not the nicest place to be and must be hard for you also."
Xu answered: "I must say that this guy has been working really hard to just show up on the television and make everyone think he finds it really easy to pull everything off."
Attempting to silence Ward's critics, Xu went on: "But if you ever catch him in any time of rehearsals, he's still trying to remember his steps, he's trying to be the way he thinks will make me happy.
"He already makes me very proud as a dance teacher and as a dance partner.
BBC Strictly: Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu have ended up in the dance-off twice so far
BBC"The respect from this guy to me, my job, is beyond everything. I'm super, super grateful," she added.
Xu wasn't alone in her defence of Ward and his demeanour on-screen as ITV presenter Nadia Sawalha, who'd happened to be in the strictly crowd on Saturday, also weighed in to defend the 40-year-old.
After reiterating Ward is by profession a "performer", Sawalha said: "We can be so unfair in this country with this... why should you be knocked for being confident?"
Ward addressed the confidence debate head-on: "I think for me is... I got a lovely comment at the very beginning that they loved my confidence which was great and I was so happy with that.
"But on the inside I was terrified... I think with social media, sometimes there are not so many kind (people) and they take that and run with it.
"I'm only human. I can block out a lot but there are some moments where it does seep through and I do show my human side and if it does affect me, it affects me and I get upset."
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He also described the experience as markedly different from his X Factor days due to "social media intrusion", admitting it's "taking me a little bit longer to adjust to it".
Xu and Ward will be taking on a Quickstep to The Beatles song Help this weekend as part of the BBC show's inaugural Icons Week.
Sadly for Ward, he's currently priced as the favourite for the boot among the remaining contestants.
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