Eastenders star and Newbury Youth Theatre alumni James Bye continues his 'Strictly journey'

The BBC One juggernaut that is Strictly Come Dancing moved up a gear when the first contestant was eliminated this weekend.

All 15 celebrities had danced twice and their combined judges scores were then added to the public votes, with the bottom two dancing one more time to impress the judges.

Former Newbury Youth Theatre (NYT) member and Hurst Community College pupil James Bye, otherwise known as Martin Fowler on EastEnders, showed improvement on the second show and his Tango scored 24, two up on the 22 he was given the previous week for his jive.

This put Mr Bye in 12th position on the leaderboard – which could have put him in danger –but he was saved by the public from having to do the dreaded dance off.

Television presenter Kaye Adams was the first celebrity to be sent home after losing out to singer Matt Goss.

Mr Bye will now take part in Movies Week next Saturday, when he will be dancing to a tune from Guardians of the Galaxy, a film he said was a favourite with his children.

We will have to wait and see whether or not he'll be able to 'cha cha charm' the judges with his moves at the weekend.