Strictly Come Dancing welcomes Mary Berry

Mary Berry baking queen made a surprise appearance on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend, bursting out of a giant cake during the live show. The Great British Bake Off host was met with delight from the Strictly audience during the results show, emerging from the prop during a group performance by the professional dancers. The show kicked off with the Bake Off themed dance routine which culminated in the cameo by Mary, who is 78 years old. Former rugby star Ben Cohen become the eighth contestant to be voted off the competition as a result of a head to head dance-off with actor Mark Benton. Mark and his professional dance partner Iveta Lukosiute performed a Foxtrot which was criticised by the judges on the previous night’s show, leading to their third dance-off in three weeks. This made the judges' decision to give Ben the (rugby) boot highly controversial. Ben and professional partner Kristina Rihanoff had received a standing ovation for the Charleston routine they performed; the audience approved of every second, however the judges did not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVff6205Ceg Ben acknowledged he thought the scoring a little harsh as the dance was clean, with few parts to improve. The Charleston they danced was high-energy, fun, had good timing and was an achievement for Ben in learning a new skill. The audience thought much of Ben's routine, highlighting the fact he has never danced before and is not from a performing background. Ben went on to hint at the unfairness of the competition as each contestant is at a different start point. For Ben, who has not attended drama school, stage school, or done any performing arts, everything was a new experience, including the backflip he learned!