The Crawley-born BBC Breakfast presenter was second from bottom in the points table after last Saturday's live show. But viewers saved him and he made it safely through to School Disco week.
But how much of a good celebrity partner does Dan make? We asked Nadiya Bychkova when the pair visited Three Bridges Primary School this week as they prepared for their disco-themed Cha Cha Cha to MC Hammer's You Can't Touch This.
Nadiya said: "He is a dream student. Just the work ethic he has. And how much he puts into training and listening, I am just loving the way he works.
"The approach he has is very technical. He will always ask me about all the details, 'why this?, 'why that?'.
See Dan Walker and Nadiya Bychkova's message to Crawley Observer readers here
Dan interrupted: "I am desperate to know."
Nadia continued: "And that’s amazing. He is always asking the right questions.
"He cannot show and dance everything perfectly, but he understands it and that’s big thing. I am really surprised because somethings I have shown him are very difficult and complicated but he can do them straight away which is quite impressive.
"I think he has that dancer in him. Sometimes when you see people doing things when he doesn't overthink think and worry whether he does it right and does it naturally.
"It’s quite impressive.
"To learn a new dance in three and a half days it’s incredibly difficult."
Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One on Saturday night at 7.10pm. The results show is on Sunday at 7.10pm.