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Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has become the fourth celebrity to be eliminated from the 2025 series of Strictly Come Dancing. The 53-year-old Dutchman and his professional partner Lauren Oakley were ousted from the competition on Sunday’s results show (26 October), after finding themselves in a dance off against West End star Amber Davies and her partner Nikita Kuzmin. As is mandatory, both couples performed their routines from Saturday’s show again, with Hasselbaink and Oakley dancing an American Smooth to “Purple Rain” by Prince and Davies and Kuzmin dancing the Cha Cha Cha to “Break Free” by Ariana Grande. Ultimately, all the judges sided with Davies and Kuzmin, including Anton Du Beke – who was the judge with this week’s casting vote. This secured their place in the Halloween special next weekend. When asked by host Tess Daly about his time on the show, Hasselbaink said: “I have absolutely loved my experience. I can only say thank you very much for letting me have this experience and to my daughters for pushing me to come here and do this. I never expected that I would enjoy it this much.” The ex-footballer went on to thank all the crew behind the scenes, including the wardrobe people, hairdressers and make-up artists. “This experience is going to live with me forever,” Hasselbaink continued. “Most importantly, [to Lauren] this girl is just absolutely incredible. She has been absolutely amazing with me. You are a diamond.” When asked if she has enjoyed teaching Hasselbaink, Oakley said: “Oh, I enjoyed it so much and I am absolutely gutted that it’s come to an end. We’ve had so many laughs. We have had the best time and I am so proud of how far he has come.” “And it proves that anyone can be a dancer if you put your mind to it,” she added. “He’s a footballer! And he just danced like that. We’ve had the best time and I’m just so proud and I feel honoured to have been able to teach you. You’ve been an amazing student.” Hasselbaink’s early departure from Strictly will come as a shock to viewers, as the former Netherlands international achieved a personal best score of 30 on Saturday’s episode and hadn’t appeared in the bottom two during the first weeks of the competition. Summing up his experiences on the show, Hasselbaink said: “The only thing you can do is dance as best as you can and then it’s up to the public. I was actually quite happy to dance again because I wanted to do better than my previous one. So listen, I have had a blast. From the people up there [pointing to the other couples], to the judges – thank you very much for your comments.” Hasselbaink follows in the footsteps of rugby player Chris Robshaw, TV star Ross King and divisive internet personality Thomas Skinner as the first celebrities eliminated from the 2025 series. The remaining 10 couples will return to the ballroom for next week’s Halloween special, on Saturday 1 November at 6.35pm, with the results show on Sunday 2 November at 7.15pm.
