‘I just wanna give Karen a hug’

Strictly Come Dancing fans have rallied around Karen Carney after she revealed she was “gutted” by her Rumba routine on the show.

The glitzy BBC One show returned to screens on Saturday (October 25) for its Icons Week. As for football star Karen Carney, she transformed into Celine Dion for her performance.

However, it seemed that Karen was left disheartened by the judges’ feedback – with host Claudia Winkleman even stepping in to comfort her.

The pair performed a Rumba (Credit: BBC)

Karen Carney ‘gutted’ after dance on Strictly

On Strictly’s live show, Karen and pro partner Carlos Gu performed a Rumba to Celine Dion’s Think Twice. Afterward, the dancing experts on the panel had mixed feedback for Karen.

Shirley Ballas pointed out that “it went a bit wobbly” in the middle, but praised Karen as she “executed” some of the hardest rumba walks in the dance. Anton also noted that Karen got “tense” meanwhile Craig said her balance was “off” and the dance “lacked fluidity”.

Sorry, I’m a bit gutted

After receiving their feedback, Karen and Carlos headed up to speak to Claudia Winkleman. However, Karen was clearly upset by the judges’ comments.

“Don’t make that face,” Claudia said, before telling Karen that the pros upstairs called Karen’s legs “perfect” when she danced.

“Thank you, as they mentioned down there, there’s about eight different walks,” Karen said. She then added: “Sorry, I’m a bit gutted.”

Karen was supported by Claudia (Credit: BBC)

Claudia steps in on Strictly

But her fellow Strictly stars didn’t agree and all said: “Noooo.” Karen continued: “It does happen but he saved it so, well done you [Carlos].”

Carlos was then asked how proud he is of Karen, considering how different the dance is to what they have done previously.

He said: “Saying proud is an understatement, I mean, how hard she’s been working and on her own. I tried to call her a bit independent this week because there is a moment for you to show your slo-mo skills, you are in control of everything.”

However, Claudia then interrupted Carlos after noticing how disheartened Karen looked. “Oh no baby, I don’t want you to be upset!”

Karen reassured her though and replied: “Oh no, I’m good, I’m alright.” The judges then gave their scores of Karen and Carlos’ dance, awarding them a total of 28 points. Surprised, Karen said: “Thank you.”

Karen revealed she was ‘gutted’ (Credit: BBC)

‘I just wanna give Karen a hug’

Meanwhile, fans watching at home soon shared their concerns for Karen following her reaction. One person said: “Aww Karen the dance was so pretty don’t let that knock your confidence.”

Someone else added: “I just wanna give Karen a hug bless her.” A third chimed in: “Somebody hug Karen Carney right now.”

Echoing their thoughts, another fan declared: “Karen looks a bit disappointed with that but she shouldn’t despite the slip up it was really beautiful!!”

Read more: Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman address exit on Strictly live show as fans left emotional