Strictly Come Dancing week 10 saw the competition heat up following a tense week at Blackpool, with just seven couples remaining.
This week’s leaderboard has a special twist: week 10 included a Samba-thon.
This dance challenge is based on an actual dance-a-thons, which involves all pairs dancing at the same time, before the judges begin to eliminate the weakest couples one by one, until only the winners remain. While the scores up for grabs are lower than those possible for the celebs’ main routines, the Samba-thon can change the leaderboard.
This is because each contestant was awarded two scores: one for their main dance, and another for how well they placed in the Samba-thon.
The highest-scoring regular dance of the night was performed by Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec, who delivered a show-stopping American Smooth to Lewis Capald’s “Someone You Loved”, which scored the first full marks of the series.
The dance, which Škorjanec dedicated to his young daughter, saw the pair execute a range of intricate lifts and moving storytelling. It was so good that it left both Anton Du Beke and Pete Wicks with tears in their eyes.
They came second in the Samba-thon though, while JB Gill and Lauren Oakley won. When added on to the 39 they won for their energetic Charleston to “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” by Firehouse Five Plus Two, the seven Samba-thon points were enough for Gill and Oakley to go joint top of the leaderboard.
In third place on the overall leaderboard, and the Samba-thon, were Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe, who performed a joyous Quickstep to “Get Happy” by Ella Fitzgerald. Douglas was called “quite delightful” by head judge Shirey Ballas, while Anton praised Montell for improving every week.
Propping up the table were Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał, who danced a Tango Phil Collinsand Phil Bailey’s 1984 song “Easy Lover”. They were awarded a not-so-impressive score of 29. They didn’t perform very well during the Samba challenge either, and were the third couple to get sent off the dance floor by judges.
Here’s week’s leaderboard in full with the individual marks from judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke, plus the Samba-thon scores:
JB Gill and Lauren Oakley: 9 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 7 = 46
Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 6 = 46
Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe: 8 + 10 + 9 + 10 + 5 = 42
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola: 8 + 8 + 10 + 10 + 4 = 40
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell: 7 + 8 + 9 + 9 + 1 = 34
Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas: 8 + 8 + 7 + 9 + 2 = 34
Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał: 6 + 7 + 8 + 8 + 3 = 32
