Strictly Come Dancing: week six – live

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Insert your vampire fangs and nibble on some necks. Or at least a bowl of Nice ‘N’ Spicy Nik-Naks. We’re about to go over live to the Elstree Studios ballroom…

On your dance cards tonight

Another selection box tonight, with nine different dance styles. The only doubling up is from Vicky Pattison and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who both perform American smooths. We’ll also see an Argentine tango from Karen Carney and a Couple’s Choice form Lewis Cope.

Just five frightening minutes until the spangly curtain comes up…

Amanda Holden-hosted quiz hotchpotch The Celebrity Inner Circle just wrapping up on BBC1. As always seems to be the case, there’s a few Strictly alumna among the guests. This week, it’s Chizzy Akudolu (first out in 2017), JJ Chalmers (quarter-finalist in 2020) and Melvin Odoom (first out in 2016). A mere 10 minutes to wait now…

Bwa-ha-ha, it’s Halloween bingo

Tick them off when you spot them! Drink a bubbling, smoking potion for each! End up doing the Monster Mash and the Timewarp at a total stranger’s house party! Here’s tonight’s 10-point spotter’s checklist:

• Judges wield pumpkin/ghost/bat-shaped scoring paddles

• Someone begins routine by climbing out of a coffin, sparking traumatic Nancy Dell’Olio flashbacks

• Halloween prop overload means way too much “messin’ abaht” and dances take ages to get going

• Routine “enhanced” and “augmented” by shonky CGI creatures

• Claudia and Tess dress in gothic black and blood red respectively

• A judge or pro has a disembodied hand on their shoulder

• Craig says a dance was “a horror show, darling” with “frightening footwork” or “stiff zombie hips”

• Band leader Dave Arch is dressed as a baton-wielding werewolf/vampire

• Someone’s face-paint transfers to their partner’s cheek or costume during the dance

• Production team’s names are “spookified” with Halloween puns on the end credits

Midway mark next week

Tonight’s 10 couples are bidding to get through to week seven, which marks the halfway milestone of the contest. Fun fact: this is the furthest we’ve ever got into a series without Anton Du Beke giving a perfect 10. Could it happen tonight?

Twenty minutes until the glittery curtain comes up…

Your Halloween highlights

What’s your most memorable Halloween routine of Strictly yore? Numbers that stick in my mind include Ashley Roberts’ witchy Charleston, Faye Tozer’s skeletal Couple’s Choice, Kara Tointon’s Phantom paso and Frankie Bridge’s green-faced Wicked tango.

All by female celebs, I notice. Has a celebrity male ever delivered a Halloween classic? Let me know your own favourites. It’s 25 minutes until the ghostly glitterball starts spinning…

Another monstrous elimination looms

Balvinder Sopal is bookies’ strong favourites for the boot again this week, followed by La Voix and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey. Amber Davies will also be nervy after last week’s dance-off shock.

Could Halloween characterisation help them all to safety? Half an hour until we get our first choreographic clues…

Whose hoofing will be a horror show in the Halloween Spooktacular?

Someone will be sent home in pumpkin-shaped carriage. Good evening and welcome to the sixth live weekend of Strictly Come Dancing 2025. I’m Michael, your cyber dance partner for tonight’s fright night special. You are cordially yet creepily invited to watch along with me as our 10 remaining couples cook up a cauldron of choreography.

Last time out, Icons Week saw the first major dance-off shock of the series, as Amber Davies plummeted from joint second on the scoreboard into the bottom two. But she managed to survive and instead, former Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink departed the dancefloor.

Tonight the surviving 10 pairs undergo terrifying transformations to perform deliciously dark dances which they hope will bewitch judges and voting viewers alike. It promises to be a feast of twinkle-toed trick or technical treat. But who will be kept alive and kicking in the competition? And for whom will the Halloween church bell toll?

It’s supernatural showtime at 6.35pm on BBC One. I’ll be liveblogging from 6.05pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, analysis, reaction and pumpkin-spiced asides. So pour yourself a magic potion and I’ll see you on the sofa.

As always, I’d love to hear from you too. You can tweet me @michaelhogan, contact me on Bluesky or Threads @michaelhogan100, email me [email protected] and the comments section below is open for bwa-ha-ha banter. I’ll zombie-walk down there whenever I can to see what you’re all saying, quoting some of your Halloween wit and wisdom up top. So please don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts.

It’s week six and it’s going to be a scream. Nearly time to staaaart spooky dancing!