STRICTLY Come Dancing star Natalie Gumede stayed top of the leaderboard for the second week running with her dance partner Artem Chigvintsev.

The former Coronation Street actress impressed while dancing the rhumba wearing a blue sequin dress, gaining 36 points out of 40.

The former Colne Park High School pupil hardly put a foot wrong on the way to receiving nine points each from the delighted judging panel.

Head judge Len Goodman said that her performance was ‘fabulous’.

Former prima ballerina Darcey Bussell said: “You speak with the whole of your body and it was brilliant.”

Strict judge Craig Revel Horwood summed up her performance on ‘Love Week’ by saying: “Love, love love.”

Host Bruce Forsyth said that he was not surprised by her performance and her dancing partner Artem welled up during the post-dance interview with Tess Daly.

Vanessa Feltz became the second celebrity to exit the popular BBC One show but she said her departure was not a ‘terrible tragedy’.

Anna's Analysis

Telegraph arts reporter Anna Mansell's verdict

AMONG a collection of schmaltzy, sweet routines for 'Love Week', Natalie and Artem's darker, heartbreak rhumba, set to Rihanna's Love The Way You Lie, really stood out from the crowd. In a pastel turquoise rhumba dress, Natalie sizzled as the woman in love, bringing the acting skills which won her so many plaudits on Corrie to the fore – in fact she could do with passing some of these skills on to Artem to help make their performances even stronger. There were one or two wobbles in some of the postures but overall this was beautiful and very moving.