Strictly: Carlos Gu unable to hold back tears as Molly Rainford makes it to final avoiding fifth dance-off

CBBC star avoided her fifth dance-off of the series

Strictly Come Dancing star Carlos Gu was unable to hold back his tears after Molly Rainford made it through to the final without facing the last dance-off.

Despite being one of the highest marked stars of the series, the CBBC star has found herself in the bottom two four times so far in the competition.

Going into Sunday (11 December) night’s semifinal, Rainford was the bookies’ favourite to be eliminated before the final.

However, the couple topped the leaderboard, leading to Rainford and Gu being the first couple announced to have made it through to the final during Monday (12 December) night’s results show.

They were joined by Hamza Yassin and his partner Jowita Przystał, and Helen Skelton and Gorka Márquez.

Fleur East and Vito Coppola competed in their fourth dance-off of the series against first-timers Will Mellor and partner Nancy Xu.

Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse voted to save East, while Anton Du Beke voted for Mellor.

Rainford comforted Gu after they made it through to the final (BBC)

Head judge Shirley Ballas was given the casting vote and voted to save East, sending Mellor home.

Talking about making it through to the final with presenter Claudia Winkleman, an overwhelmed Rainford said that getting to dance to Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” had allowed her to show her resilience on Sunday.

“Honestly, that felt like a win,” she said. “It just made all those scary dance-offs worth it.”

Gu was unable to get out his words through his tears, with presenter Claudia Winkleman commenting: “Oh Carlos, you’re crying.”

“I’m so happy, I’m so happy,” he said, while wiping back tears.

On social media, fans shared their excitement at Rainford reaching the final despite her knockbacks.

“THRILLED for Molly,” one fan wrote. “She deserves to be in that final. As does Hamza. It’s between those two for me for the win.”

“MOLLY THROUGH FIRST I’M GONNA CRY,” another tweeted.

“So happy for Molly. She deserves it. Finalist number one,” another commenter said.

One tweet read: “Just properly screamed for Molly and Carlos, she totally deserves it after coming back and pulling off that paso.”

“LET’S GO MOLLY IN THE FINAL! WE DID IT,” another fan tweeted.

Strictly Come Dancing concludes Saturday 17 December at 7.05pm on BBC One.