Magical - Mollie and AJ's Strictly Story

Part 11 - Night of horrors

I knew it would happen. I just knew it. Let me work at getting this make-up off as I process the night's proceedings. This is bound to be a while.

Well, as I feared, we were in the middle of the leader board. I didn't get bad marks or nasty comments really, but I knew we were in the danger zone. He tried to cheer me up, but I just knew. Even before the main show ended I wanted to practice the dance again – if we were to be in that dance off, I needed to know I had done as much as I could to stay in. We got to the results and I was right. First couple to be announced in the dance off. It would all come down to who we would be up against. I prayed it wasn't the shock week Ellen was expecting – I knew we wouldn't be chosen against people like Debbie, Alexandra, Gemma or Aston.

It's such a horrible feeling to be wishing for others to go so that you can stay, but that is the nature of the show. We know it has to happen every week. I don't know what I would do if this all suddenly ended.

Well, it didn't end. We were up against Simon and Karen. I really like Simon – he's like a dad to us all and he brings in food too. But I knew the judges had marked him lower than us and he'd already been in two dance offs. I didn't want to be complacent, but at least we had a good chance of going through.

Oh, Mirror-Mollie, you'd be so proud of me. I decided that if this was going to be my last dance, it would be a good one. You see these shoulders? These babies were held down as much as possible. There would be no wearing them as earrings – loving that analogy, Shirley! I would give this dance all the personality I could muster. I would be Kylie personified. There would be no devil cheekier than me. Except, perhaps, him.

He matched me beat for beat. He must have been exhausted. That make up had been masking the lingering fatigue from his illness, but he wasn't giving up on me. On us. He wanted this to continue as much as I did. And he knew, as I did, that we had had a close call.