Watch as Strictly star Pete Wicks whispers sweet message to his dance partner Jowita Pryzstal seconds after huge dance error

Pete Wicks was heard repeatedly apologizing to his Strictly Come Dancing partner Jowita Pryzstal seconds after finishing his routine on Saturday night.

The former TOWIE star, 36, transformed into Queen frontman Freddie Mercury when he opened the BBC show by performing a salsa to Another One Bites The Dust.

Although he was certainly dressed for the part, with Freddie’s trademark mustache and slicked-back hair, Pete’s performance was flawed.

The reality star’s routine involved a daring lift in which she swung Jowita just above the floor, where she came incredibly close to hitting the dance floor.

As they finished the dance for the show’s first Icon Week, Pete could be heard apologizing to Jowita as she approached him.

He said, ‘I’m sorry, darling. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

Jowita was heard reassuring Pete that everything was fine.

The judges, Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse enjoyed Pete’s showmanship and noted his mistakes.

Head judge Shirley said: “You embraced the character of Freddie Mercury very, very well.” I’m not going to judge this too much and tell you why.

‘You made a lot of mistakes so it wouldn’t be fair, we all know you made mistakes and we could see them.

But what impressed me was how you understood it. You soldiered on, did your lifts, and thought, I’m going to go ahead and do the job.

‘Let them vote for you because you were great.’

Meanwhile Craig said: ‘What a terrible shame. He lacked rotation, he lacked fluidity.”

Motsi added: “The dancing needs to improve.”

Pete finished at the bottom of the leaderboard with just 22 points for his performance, Craig scored four and the remaining three judges scored six.

Speaking to host Claudia Winkleman afterwards, Pete said it was an “honour” to dance as Freddie, but called the song choice “ironic”.

He added: “It’s probably written in the stars, but I enjoyed it.”

Elsewhere in the show, professionals Nancy Xu and Carlos Gu awkwardly kept their distance in the Clauditorium.

Just hours after the live episode aired on the BBC, it was claimed that the couple They have had a “shocking” fight and now refuse to talk backstage.

Nancy, 33, and Carlos, 31, grew up in China and have been close since childhood and have shared cute nicknames for each other in the past.

The pair have unfollowed each other on social media and, according to new reports, behind-the-scenes tensions have left their professional colleagues “shocked.”

And while the dancers and professionals briefed host Claudia in the upstairs area of ​​the studio, Nancy made sure to be on the far left with her famous partner Shayne Ward.

Carlos, who is single this year, was far away on Claudia’s other side as he supported Amy Dowden after she returned to the show following a health scare.

Carlos was dressed as David Bowie with his iconic face paint and red hair.

An informant said the sun on Saturday: ‘The fight between Nancy and Carlos is really sad and has left everyone really shocked. They have been close since childhood, but they fell out and stopped following each other on social media.

Tensions are claimed to have arisen after Carlos was left disappointed at not being paired with a celebrity in this series, while Nancy has been busy in rehearsals with Shayne Ward, 40.

The source added: “The atmosphere on set is said to be awkward and tense when the two are around each other, and many were relieved when Carlos didn’t attend the show weeks ago.”

Meanwhile, another source told MailOnline: “Both Carols and Nancy are extremely cordial and always incredibly professional around the Strictly facility.”

MailOnline has the dancers’ representative and the BBC for comment.

The Icons Week results will be broadcast this afternoon on BBC One at 7.20pm