Strictly Come Dancing: week 10 – live

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On your dance cards tonight

As well as Strictly’s first ever samba-thon, we’ll see seven different dance styles tonight, including four classic ballroom routines.

We’ll also be treated to a rumba, a paso doble and a Charleston. It’s just 10 minutes until the choreographic kick-off…

Festive special line-up is now complete

Stir up your plum duff in preparation because all six celebrity contestants are now confirmed for the Strictly Christmas Special. We can look forward to festive footwork from comedian Josh Widdicombe, drag artist Tayce, presenter Vogue Williams, Nitro from Gladiators (aka Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey), actress Tamzin Outhwaite and racing driver Billy Monger.

Any early predictions for the 2024 winner of the seasonal Strictly star? It’s just 15 minutes until that ba-ba-da theme tune…

Dibbers at the ready! It’s Strictly bingo

Cross them off as you spot them on-screen! Take a drink for each! End up dancing around your living room in your own personal samba-thon! Here’s your 10-point spotter’s guide for tonight’s proceedings:

• Reference to Pete Wicks having peeled off his pink pleather Blackpool trousers

• Craig Revel Horwood is consulted as the oracle of Charleston swivel

• Topical Bert-based reference to “dancing up a storm”

• Misty-eyed reference to Blackpool’s “special atmosphere”, “sprung floor” or “iconic” Tower Ballroom

• Anton du Beke crowbars in mention of his own Strictly saaarm-bas

• Motsi says Craig is “obsessed” with her

• Newly eliminated pro Katya Jones compensates by elbowing to the front of the Clauditorium

• Shot of Dianne Buswell’s parents in the studio audience and they wave awkwardly at the camera

• Shirley says it’s week 10, so she needs to clamp down on technical fundamentals

• Claudia makes a knowing gag about the lindyhop-athon meltdown six years ago

Pete Wicks is hot favourite for the exit

For the first time this series - and not before time, in terms of scores - pink slack enthusiast Pete Wicks is bookies’ odds-on tip for elimination this weekend.

Montell Douglas is second favourite, with JB Gill in third. Can they defy the odds? Twenty minutes until the glittery curtain comes up…

Back to usual ballroom business

They’ve made it past the towering Blackpool landmark. The bright lights of the pleasure beach are behind them. Still scrubbing sand from between their toes, our couples now return to the familiar Elstree Studios ballroom.

No extra dancers or sprung floor. Nowhere to hide from the judges. Not long until the clock strikes sequins…

Inaugural samba-thon promises all manner of mayhem

The last time Strictly attempted a dance-athon in 2018, the judges got confused by all the simultaneous lindy-hopping and announced the wrong results. Claudia Winkleman had to intervene like an exasperated school teacher and untangle the hot mess, before recommending a stiff drink.

Having taken six years to recover from the trauma, they’re now trying it again. After they’ve all performed their main routines tonight, our seven couples will take on their first competition-style floor dance. They will all perform a spicy samba at the same time, raising the tantalising prospect of collisions.

The judges will confer and eliminate them pair-by-pair until there’s a winner. They’ll be awarded between one and seven points apiece, depending on their position, which will be added to their main score.

It means each couple has practised two dance styles this week for the first time - their full routine, plus the samba - which could change the leaderboard considerably before the public vote opens. Who can deliver when it counts? We’ll get our first clues in 25 minutes…

Who will suffer a Blackpool hangover?

Having danced back down the M6 from the Tower Ballroom, it’s a homecoming show for our hoofers - but one pair will fall short of the quarter-final.

Good evening and welcome to week 10 of Strictly Come Dancing 2024. I’m Michael, your speed-typing dance partner for tonight’s live show. I’d love you to watch along with me as our magnificent seven trip the light fantastic once again. They will also tackle Strictly’s first ever samba-thon, bidding to make it through to next week’s musicals-themed quarter-final.

Last weekend’s annual trip to Blackpool Tower Ballroom saw spectacular routines and even more spectacular trousers. Wynne Evans and Katya Jones were eliminated but what a stage to bow out on.

Our seven surviving pro-celebrity pairings now return to the familiar surroundings of Elstree Studios - with extra points up for grabs in the climactic (and possibly chaotic) samba-thon. More on that in a moment.

As always, tonight’s scores will be combined with the public vote and the bottom two duos will hoof again for survival on Sunday night. Pete Wicks and Montell Douglas most at risk but the two Js, Jamie Borthwick and JB Gill, could also be in jeopardy.

It’s showtime at 7.05pm on BBC One. I’ll be liveblogging from 6.35pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, analysis, reaction and glitter-dusted gags. So draw the curtains against Storm Bert and I’ll see you on the sofa.

As ever, I’d love to hear from you too. You can tweet me @michaelhogan, email me [email protected] and the comments section below is at your dance disposal. I’ll samba-walk down there intermittently to see what you’re all saying and report on your reactions.

Will Tasha Ghouri top the scoring yet again? Will Craig Revel Horwood finally dust off his 10 paddle? Will the sambathon give the judges a nervous breakdown? And will anyone be sporting an unwise tattoo from Blackpool seafront? It’s nearly time to staaaart double dancing!