After a brief message from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman at the beginning of the show, talk of the presenting duo’s recently announced departure from the beloved series was kept to a minimum during tonight’s episode. At least, until the very last dancer of the night.
La Voix and her professional partner Aljaž Škorjanec closed the show with a salsa to Cher’s 1998 hit Strong Enough, and following their routine the Drag Race star made a cheeky joke to Tess ahead of receiving the judges’ feedback.
“Oh Tess, you’re still here!” she said, to which the host replied: “I’m still here,” before laughing at the comment.
Tess and Claudia announced earlier in the week that “now feels like the right time” to depart the show, and they opened this week’s programme with a heartfelt thank you for the “beautiful messages” they had received from fans since breaking the news.
They also stressed that there were still another eight weeks to go and another Strictly champion to crown, before moving on to this week’s performances – as the remaining contestants took to the floor for the annual Icons Week.
Across the night, the couples danced routines to hits from a range of musical superstars past and present, with Prince, Ariana Grande and the aforementioned Cher just some of the legends whose songs were heard throughout the broadcast.
La Voix and Aljaž’s performance saw them receive a score of 28 points from the judges – double their disappointing total of 14 from last week – with that score placing them just ahead of bottom placed George Clarke and Alexis Warr on the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 leaderboard.
Karen Carney, Ellie Goldstein and Balvinder Sopal were also all tied on 28 points, while at the other end of the leaderboard Lewis Cope sits on top with 34 points, followed by Vicky Pattinson and Amber Davies, both of whom scored 33.
Now it’s over to the viewers at home to have their say before those votes are added to the judges’ scores to determine which couples will have to face the dreaded dance-off in Sunday night’s results show.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 26th October at 7:15pm.
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