Strictly Come Dancing star dealt crushing blow hours before live show

Balvinder Sopal's time on Strictly Come Dancing could be coming to an end - with bookmakers slashing odds on the EastEnders actress becoming the next celebrity to leave the ballroom. Coral has cut Balvinder's odds to just 4-7, down from 4-5, meaning there's now a 64% chance she'll be eliminated this weekend. It's a tough blow for the soap star, who has already faced the dreaded dance-off three times this series.

"Balvinder Sopal dodged the dance-off on Halloween week, but our odds suggest she is likely to go this weekend, with the EastEnders actress having a 64% chance of being eliminated," Coral's John Hill said. The betting giant currently has George Clarke as the favourite to lift the Glitterball trophy at 5-4, followed by Lewis Cope at 2-1. Balvinder, however, sits at the bottom of the leaderboard with long odds of 200-1 to win the competition.

It comes just hours before Balvinder's next live performance, where she's promising to take a bold new approach in a bid to impress both the judges and viewers at home.

Appearing on BBC's It Takes Two, the 44-year-old revealed she will be performing her Couple's Choice routine barefoot this weekend - a fusion of Bhangra and Bollywood set to Ed Sheeran's Sapphire.

"It's a fusion of Bhangra and Bollywood, it's strong and powerful," Balvinder said. "It's going to be vibrant and banging."

Her professional partner Julian Caillon said he's "loving every second" of rehearsals, telling host Fleur East: "I don't think I've enjoyed dancing this much in a while. I feel so privileged I get to do this with Bal and learn about her culture."

Balvinder has also been open about the emotional strain of the competition, admitting she was left in tears while preparing last week's Rumba to Stay by Shakespears Sister.

"The Rumba, it was the hardest thing to learn," she said. "Literally, on Tuesday, I'd thrown the towel in and went, 'I can't do it,' I sat in a corner and cried.

"Jules was standing there and went, 'When you're ready, bro... we've got to get this done.'"

Reflecting on her scores from the judges, she added: "I'm trying to get my head around it, because there's a part of me that goes, if you can see improvement, that warrants a little bit of a better score than we got last week.

"So I don't really know where the judges sit or what they're looking for. At this point, I'm a little bit confused, so I'm just going to go out there and dance to my heart's content, because that's all I've got control of. There's nothing else that I can do."