FANS of Strictly Come Dancing took to Twitter to say East Lancashire’s Natalie Gumede was ‘robbed’ after she missed out on the glitterball in the series finale.

But the actress was also praised for her ‘amazing’ dancing with partner Artem Chigvintsev, and doing Lancashire proud.

Model Abbey Clancy, 27, and her partner Aljaz Skorjanec lifted the trophy on Saturday’s show, despite Natalie and Artem wowing judges with their final three numbers.

The final three pairs were given a score out of 120 for their dances, with Natalie being awarded just one point short of perfection, and Abbey finishing with 116.

More than six million votes were cast by viewers in the tightly-fought battle for the ballroom gong, the ultimate deciding factor as to who would be crowned winners of the show’s 11th series.

The social net-working site was flooded with commiserations for 27-year-old Natalie, a former Coronation Street star from Colne, who attended Park High School.

Catie Friend said: “@Natalie Gumede you were robbed! Best dancer of the night, without a doubt! Congratulations on an amazing final and well done.”

Commenting on Natalie and Artem’s crowd-pleasing renditions of the cha cha cha, showdance and Amer-ican Smooth, Zoe Margo said: “I feel @NatalieGum-ede and @artemchigvintse are the true winners of Str- ictly.

“Beautiful fluidity, amazing musicality and flawless technique.”

Gary Brown said: “Well gutted @NatalieGumede lost out on what was rightfully hers.”

Michael Tee said: “Shame the best person lost. Chin up @NatalieGumede... Best non-professional dancer ever on, even Abbey knows that much.”

When the winner was announced, Natalie told show presenter Tess Daly: “It’s been so emotional and incredible.

“It’s been the best opportunity of my life.

“I’m so thrilled to have been in the final, and am so grateful to everybody who has supported us.”

Natalie had to miss one round of the contest after suffering back problems.

But her assured performances saw her go all the way to the final.

BBC presenter Susanna Reid and her partner Kev-in Clifton were also runners-up, while singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Brendan Cole came fourth in the dance show.