Layton Williams receives HUGE boost ahead of Strictly final with backing from Hollywood royalty
GENE Kelly’s widow has hailed Layton Williams' recreation of the Tinseltown tap icon’s Charleston on Strictly.
The Bad Education star and pro partner Nikita Kuzmin were awarded a perfect 40 for their version of Gene and Donald O'Connor's jig to Fit As A Fiddle on Saturday night.
And now Patricia Ward Kelly has given her backing.
Writing on Facebook, she shared a photo of the nostalgic number and wrote: “A lovely nod to Gene and Donald by Layton and Nikita with their Charleston on Strictly Come Dancing.
“Gene always said ‘Don’t imitate me. Take what I did and go beyond.’
“I think these two mastered that.”
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It’s high praise for the duo ahead of the series finale on Saturday.
But they go into the glittering showdown as only second favourite to win at 8/1, behind former Corrie star Ellie Leach on 1/9 and Bobby Brazier on 12/1.
It comes as Layton hit back at bullying fans after a backlash over his level of dance experience.
West End star Layton, 29, has been flooded with hateful messages since signing up for the ballroom show in July.
His theatre experience in Everybody's Talking About Jamie and Billy Elliott has caused the BBC to face fix allegations.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Robin fumed: "STOP this hatred for @LaytonWilliams it’s BULLYING ffs.
"The poor guy sees all these comments everyone tags him in - how is that supposed to make him feel?"
He then insisted the trolls should be "ashamed" as he issued another brutal put down.
Robin, who appeared on the show between 2010 and 2013, continued: "You should all be ashamed of [yourselves]. What ever happened to be KIND?"
