...but it's the judges who are breathing fire

Susan Calman has lived to dance another week in Strictly.

Despite having a prop dragon custom-made for her Game Of Thrones inspired routine on Saturday, she and dance partner Kevin Clifton could only manage a score of 18 from the judges.

Although they came second from last on the leaderboard, they avoided the  dance-off on Sunday night's results show, which led to the expulsion of  Simon Rimmer and Kevin’s wife Karen.

On Saturday, Kevin, who dressed up as Jon Snow, had  clashed with judge Shirley Ballas over her criticism.

The expert said the routine ‘lacked grace and elegance’.

But he said sarcastically: ‘For the Halloween Game Of Thrones dragon-breathing foxtrot grace wasn’t really what we were going for.’

Ballas conceded the point, but added: ‘It’s not the type of foxtrot I like to see.’

Craig Revel Horwood said: ‘I thought my ride-on mower at home had more grace and elegance… it wasn’t for me, I’ve got to say

Even Bruno Tonioli, who is usually the most positive of the judges, told the pair their dance was incoherent and featured ‘a lot of mistakes’.

After stoically receiving the criticism, Calman told host Claudia Winkleman: ‘I’ll always be very honest about it, I don’t really remember any mistakes.’

Clifton said: ‘There weren’t any.’

Revel Horwood gave the pair just three out of ten for their routine –  which had been received well by the audience – the other three judges awarded a five.

Calman had dressed as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, for the dance, which they performed to Killer Queen.

Before the show, the comedian received a message of support from actress  Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys  in the hit HBO series.

She posted a video online saying: ‘Susan, my sources tell me that you are playing the mother of dragons this week on Strictly Come Dancing.

‘As the mother of dragons myself, I wanted to wish you luck because you are my favourite."

‘You and adorable Kevin - I want you to win.’

Here’s the performance:

Published: 29 Oct 2017