2023 star has shut down criticism he received from former stars of the show after his pole dance routine.
– which saw the celebrities and their partners perform at the famous Tower Ballroom – the Bad Education star delivered his Couple’s Choice with .
Layton, 29, and Nikita, 25, wore matching sparkly corsets on top of their black ensembles, as they at the back of the stage.
Dancing to Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man, they received a score of 39 out of a possible 40 from the judges, with fans left fuming that they were just one point away from a clean sweep.
However, former Strictly pros Brendan Cole and James Jordan were critical of the performance, with the former comparing it to a Magic Mike show in an interview with
Meanwhile, James told Hello!: ‘Did I think that dance had a place on Strictly? Absolutely not,’ while also praising Layton on his incredible dancing skills.
Speaking in a new interview, Layton addressed the criticisms that the pole dance routine has received, stressing that he and Nikita often like to think outside of the box.
‘I feel like we’ve always come out and kind of like done something potentially a little bit more out there pushing the boundaries… we’ve thrown in this and that… and there’s always an element of surprise,’ he said.
‘Why shouldn’t we be swinging from poles and living our best lives? It went down pretty [well] if you ask me so I’m really proud and I stand by it, it’s also a couple’s choice. Get into it.’
Nikita added that the routine had ‘nothing more to it’ than swinging around a pole and dancing, stating: ‘At the end of the day, we’re just two boys dancing together and we are having fun, we’re trying to bring a show, and well, if somebody doesn’t like this, it’s absolutely fine.’
Layton also spoke out about the Strictly fans who have felt the need to question his place in the competition given his past experience performing on the West End, having appeared in the stage musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
The performer said that he found it ‘disrespectful’ towards the Strictly pros, who are ‘unbelievable’ dancers.
‘I think I’ve kind of learned to kind of just push that away, leave everything on the dancefloor knowing that like, I’ve put my heart and soul into this,’ he said.
On the latest episode of Strictly on Saturday night, Layton and Nikita performed an American Smooth to It’s Oh So Quiet by Björk.
They received a score of 34 out of a possible 40, with two eights and two nines from the judges, placing them fourth out of six on the leaderboard.
The Strictly Come Dancing results show airs today 7.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
