Strictly Come Dancing latest: Fans praise Craig Revel and Anton Du Beke’s Halloween week costumes
The annual Spooktacular is back and the remaining 11 pairs were hoping their dancing didn’t frighten the judges
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Your support makes all the difference.It was fright night in the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom on Saturday, which meant the remaining 11 contestants showed off terrifying transformations as they fought for a place in next week’s competition.
It’s not just the celebrities who got in the Halloween spirit. The judges also dressed up, with Craig Revel Horwood and Anton du Beke teaming up and doing their best impression of the twins from The Shining. Professional dancer Carlos Gu — who doesn’t have a celebrity partner this year — also vied for the Best Costume crown by dressing up as Claudia Winkleman.
On the dancefloor, there were plenty of impressive moments too as Chris McCausland and his partner Dianne Buswell opened the show with a Samba to “Stayin’ Alive’” by The Bee Gees. JLS singer JB Gill and Amy Dowden, who were in the dance-off last week, bounced back with a not-so-scary Foxtrot to “Dancing In The Moonlight”.
And Sarah Hadland brought the drama with the first Argentine Tango of Strictly 2024. The actress and her pro partner Vito Coppola got off to a shaky start as Hadland struggled to get her leg into the right position for a lift. Thankfully, the pair soon recovered and the judges didn’t hold the error against them, as two of the panel reached for their 10 paddles.
One of the best moments of the night came right at the end, as Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin closed the show with a “Time Warp” jive — complete with Drag Race-esque costume reveals.
Recap all of the action as it happened below...
Chris’s scores are in...
A 5 (from Craig) and three 7s give Chris total of 26 — he’ll definitely need a lot of support from viewers to avoid the dreaded dance-off.
Pete improves again
With Paul and Nick gone, Pete is undeniably one of the weaker contenders left in the competition — but he has impressed with ballroom before, and his Waltz tonight was a genuinely promising performance.
I can’t lie, I enjoyed this more than I did Joker 2.
Pete’s scores are in...
He’s landed a total of 31 with 8s from every judge apart from Craig — which is Pete’s highest score yet.
Giving feedback, the judges heaped praise on the former TOWIE star’s progress so far.
“When you play this back, you’re going to be very, very proud of yourself, like I am,” said Shirley, before Anton labelled the dance Pete’s best so far this series.
Craig brought Pete back to earth a little, but even he had praise.
”It was slightly behind the beat,” he said. “The characterisation was absolutely formidable. You have grown brilliantly.”
Wait — has Carlos Gu won Halloween?
Sorry but I think I was wrong to say Craig and Anton had the best costumes. Why? Carlos has dressed as Claudia. Sensational.
Johannes’s wig steals the show
Montell’s Cha Cha wasn’t bad at all but quite frankly, I couldn’t stop staring at Johannes’s wig. The wardrobe, hair and make-up teams really have outdone themselves this year.
Montell’s scores are in...
Having finished joint top of the leaderboard last week, Montell has landed another solid score.
Every judge (apart from Anton!) has scored her with a 9. Anton’s 8 brings Montell’s total to 35.
Punam pulls off a Tango
Sorry but this is fast becoming a wig blog. Punam looks fabulous as a ghost pirate but Gorka’s wig is just beautiful isn’t it?
Dancing wise, it was a decent effort from the GP and she did look more confident than in recent weeks.
“It was all a bit floppy,” Anton said. “I want you to make it to the next level... your dancing is so good underneath and you have so much to offer. It’s all there, you’ve got nothing to be frightened off. You could be absolutely super.”
“I did see a big improvement this week,” said Motsi.
Punam’s scores are in...
And it’s her second-highest score yet! Going along the panel, she received 6, 7, 6 and 7, giving her a total of 26.
Wynne gets in on the lift action
With their recent controversy well and truly behind them, Wynne and Katya have levelled their dancing up by introducing lifts this week — and poor Wynne’s fear was evident on his face as they kicked off with a string of stunts.
He never looked entirely comfortable and confident as he flung Katya in the air though, which made it a little nerve-wracking to watch.
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