Strictly Come Dancing fans were unhappy last night as they argued that Amanda Abbington had been “deleted” from this year’s competiton.
Amanda was paired up with Giovanni Pernice for the BBC One dance contest – but quit in October.
Amid rumours of a ‘feud’ between her and Giovanni, he was said to be “devastated” by the decision to withdraw.
However, he has subsequently participated in group dances on the show. But going into Saturday (December 16) night’s final, Sherlock actress Amanda was not expected to feature as eliminated contestants returned for one last whirl on the Strictly dance floor.
Strictly 2023 final news: What happened to Amanda Abbington?
Towards the end of yesterday evening’s finale, every other 2023 contestant who hadn’t made the last three spoke about their experience of the show in a talking heads segment.
However, Amanda did not pop up on the screen at any point. She did not participate in the group dance for all of the Strictly couples that had already departed the competition, either.
“They’ve missed Amanda Abington off the montage #StrictlyFinal,” one fan said, adding a pair of eyes emoji to their words.
Lol at how Amanda has been totally deleted from Strictly.
And someone else reacted: “Lol at how Amanda has been totally deleted from #Strictly.”
But while Amanda didn’t appear to make any new contributions to the last episode of the series, it isn’t accurate to suggest she was entirely erased from the final.
‘Amanda and Giovanni were amazing’
That’s because Amanda’s involvement was acknowledged in another segment. It came shortly before the 2023 winners were announced as Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola.
The mention came as two fans reflected on Amanda being part of 2023. Furthermore, the few moments dedicated to Amanda (and Giovanni) seemed to be the same amount of screen time concerning other former contestants in the series.
Over footage of Amanda and Giovanni walking together, one of the fans was heard to say: “Amanda was one of the reasons I started watching the show.”
And another added: “Her and Giovanni were amazing.”
Additionally, there was another, briefer shot of Amanda on screen as the 2023 contestants’ initial introduction was revisited.
But the impression that some social media users were left with included the tweeted thought: “Amanda really said byeeeee #Strictly.”
Someone else made use of six grimacing emojis as they posted sarcastically: “So Amanda Abbington wasn’t in this year’s Strictly obviously.”
While another fan added: “Amanda and Gio getting the BRIEFEST mention in the #Strictly flashback, woulda liked less tbh x.”
Read more: A complete timeline of events leading up to Amanda Abbington’s Strictly exit
The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas 2023 special airs on Christmas Day (Monday, December 25) on BBC One at 4.40pm.
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.