Strictly Come Dancing voters have been branded 'racist' after the first person to be booted out of the competition was a black woman.
Actress Chizzy Akudolu, 43, and her partner Pasha Kovalev, 37, were placed in the bottom two after their foxtrot failed to impress the public.
Judges opted to save comedian Brian Conley and his partner Amy Dowden, despite Chizzy having beaten him in the leader board.
Chizzy had also beaten Ruth Langsford and Charlotte Hawkins' scores, but they sailed through to the second phase of the competition without landing in the bottom two.
Viewers have called the public 'racist' for not voting for Chizzy, claiming she was only in the bottom two because she is a black woman.
One Twitter user said black people 'always seem to leave first' while another said it wasn't a surprising result, calling the entire process 'racist'.
Chizzy Akudolu, 43, and her partner Pasha Kovalev became the first pair to leave Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night
Darcey Bussell, 48, Bruno Tonioli, 61, and head judge Shirley Ballas, 57, all chose to send Chizzy and Pasha home, saving Brian and and Amy.
Chizzy was clearly disappointed to be leaving the competition so soon and began to cry as she spoke to presenter Tess Daly, 48.
She said: 'This guy… this dude, I have loved every minute dancing with him and it will continue because I will just be going round his house to dance now.
'But I don't have his address so if anyone could email me I would appreciate it! And thank you to the judges for the constructive criticism which I will take on board.'
Chizzy and Pasha placed higher on the leaderboard than Brian and Amy, as well as Ruth, Simon, Charlotte and Rev. Richard, who all sailed through to the next round
Not only had Chizzy beaten Brian, 56, she also came out ahead of stars like This Morning presenter Ruth Langsford, 57, and newsreader Charlotte Hawkins, 42, who still sailed through to the next round of the show.
Viewers pointed out that contestants who aren't white often leave the BBC competition early, with DJ Melvin Odoom, 37, becoming the first to leave the 2016 series.
Melvin has since reached out to Chizzy, tweeting this morning: 'If anyone knows what you’re going through it’s me...you gave it your all Chizzy and that’s all you can do... we love you.'
EastEnders actress Tameka Empson, 40, was second to leave that year, followed by TV presenter Naga Munchetty, 42, in week four.
The series was won by TV presenter Ore Oduba, 31, but he was consistently in the bottom two throughout the competition.
In 2015 boxer Anthony Ogogo, 28, was voted out second, shortly followed by chef Ainsley Harriott, 60, who left fourth.
Viewers called the results 'racist', pointing out that non white contestants tend to leave the competition early
Chizzy placed 10th out of the 15 pairs, beating Ruth, Charlotte, chef Simon Rimmer, 54, and Rev. Richard Coles, 55, who all made it to the next stage of the competition without having to face a dance off.
Chizzy made her name playing surgeon Mo Effanga from 2012 to 2017 in BBC hospital drama Holby City.
She has also had smaller roles in EastEnders, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Silent Witness.
The only judge who opted to save Chizzy was Craig Revel Horwood, 52, who said: 'Well for me, both couples were worth a three but the person who I love watching more on the dancefloor is Chizzy.'
Chizzy was placed in the bottom two with Brian Conley, despite beating him in the leaderboard
The actress thanked her partner for dancing with her, saying she hopes they stay in touch after the competition
But the other judges preferred Brian, with Shirley commenting: 'Well it's quite a difficult decision I feel that both of them brought quite nice performances there, but the person I'm going to save because I felt like they had a bit more musicality and content this evening is Brian.'
Viewers flooded Twitter with criticism of the results, with many arguing that the public were racist for voting out a black dancer first, and not for the first time.
The BBC declined to comment.
The 14 remaining Strictly couples will take to the floor again on Saturday evening for a movie special.
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