Strictly Come Dancing: Helen Skelton honours Tony Adams as he withdraws from the BBC show due to injury

Helen Skelton has thanked Tony Adams for his friendship and entertainment, following his shock exit from Strictly Come Dancing.

The Countryfile presenter, 39, took to Instagram to honour the former football manager, 56, who was forced to withdraw from the BBC show after his Jive on Saturday night.

Tony picked up a hamstring injury during his dance to Land of 1000 Dances with partner Katya Jones, and was unable to compete in the dance-off against DJ Tyler West and his partner Dianne Buswell - putting the pair through to next week’s show.

Helen described her friendship with Tony as something she “didn’t expect to happen on this Strictly journey”, as she honoured their parenting debates and rugby discussions.

The mother-of-three, who recently split with Leeds Rhinos star Richie Myler, wrote: “This one …… of all the things I didn’t expect to happen on this strictly journey was that I would have a weekly debrief/chat/parenting debate/rugby discussion with @tonyadamsofficial thank you for your friendship and thank you for entertaining us in every way ❤️🙌”

Tony and Katya have been at the bottom of the leaderboard six weeks out of eight, scoring only between 15 and 31 from the judges.

However, they have remained in the competition for eight weeks thanks to their fans and the public vote.

On Sunday night, he took to Instagram, telling his 164,000 followers: “There comes a point when you can no longer ignore medical advice, and very sadly my point came tonight.”

The former England captain thanked the “exceptionally kind cast and crew” and his Russian dance partner who he called his “absolute rock, queen, nemesis, HERO”.

Fellow Strictly Come Dancing contestants comedian Jayde Adams, singer Molly Rainford, actor Jimmy Bye, singer Matt Goss and Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds commented on the social media post.

His exit from the show created a lot of talk on Twitter, with many viewers claiming he was lying about the injury to get out of the dance-off.

However, one fan said that Tony was a “natural born entertainer” who “always tried his best”, as he congratulated the former football manager on his eight week journey.

Helen had previously said, whilst appearing alongside Gorka on The One Show, that Tony was her “biggest competition” in the series.

She explained to hosts Alex Jones and Ronan Keating: “Tony Adams came into this as the comedy but he’s so good, isn’t he?”