Robin Windsor struggles to lift Lisa Riley during Strictly Come Dancing semi-final

During Strictly Come Dancing semi-final on Saturday evening Lisa Riley and her professional dance partner Robin Windsor had the audience laughing for all the wrong reasons.

As the duo performed a Salsa centre stage to Best Years Of Our Lives by Modern Romance, an awkward attempt from Robin Windsor, 33, to lift Lisa Riley, 36, was not well received by fans of the BBC show.

During their uptempo routine Lisa Riley failed to gracefully glide across the floor and had many viewers believing she had taken a tumble.

Robin Windsor then swooped in to pick her up for the next segment of their dance but struggled to lift her.

The occurrence which lasted a total of seven seconds truly made for cringe-worthy viewing.

Fans of the dance show wasted no time taking to their Twitter accounts to discuss what they witnessed.

On person wrote: “That poor fella trying to lift Lisa Riley off the floor.”

While another tweeted: “Poor Lisa and robin!! Was Lisa sweeping the floor!!! #cringe #timetogo.”

However, despite Lisa Riley and Robin Windsor’s blunders the pair were awarded 31 points by the judges.

Speaking to The Sun Robin Windsor admitted that he believed Lisa Riley was at a disadvantage in the competition because of her weight.

He said: “Last week, the tango was the best Lisa has done. It’s still not how I’d like it to be but because of her size she’s quite limited. I hope the public realize how difficult that is for her.”

The British dancer also revealed that he was a bit apprehensive ahead of the Salsa as he feared it could “end in absolute disaster”.

“I’ve taken lots of chances by throwing myself at Lisa – so we’ll see what happens.”