Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special: Louis Smith wins as Sir Bruce Forsyth returns
The gymnast performed a quickstep to 'Jingle Bells'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Gymnast Louis Smith was tonight crowned King of the Christmas Ballroom with professional partner Aliona Vilani during tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Following Caroline Flack’s win last weekend, this year’s all-star Dancing Christmas episode saw Sir Bruce Forsyth returned to the Strictly ballroom alongside Tess Daly.
Louis and Aliona earned a perfect score of 40 points from the judges for their Quickstep to Jingle Bells.
After watching all dances, the studio audience voted for their favourite couple which was then combined with the judges scores and Louis and Aliona were presented with the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Silver Star trophy.
Reflecting on his win, Louis said: “It’s a nice present, I am not going to lie! We’ve had such a fun time although the first week of rehearsals was hard. But since then we have just been chilling out, laughing and giggling, messing around on the dance floor, it’s been really good fun.”
This year’s Christmas special had a pantomime theme, with the contestants all taking on the roles of iconic panto characters. Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor appeared as Sleeping Beauty, actress Lisa Riley as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, S Club 7’s Rachel Stevens as Tinkerbell, Olympic gymnast Louis Smith as Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, TV presenter Chris Hollins as Dick Whittington and astrologer Russell Grant as the Genie from Aladdin. The judges also joined in the festive fun dressing as classic panto favourites throughout with Bruno Tonioli appearing as Buttons, Craig Revel-Horwood as The Evil Queen, Darcey Bussell as Fairy Godmother and Head Judge Len Goodman as Cinderella’s father Baron Hardup.
Sir Bruce also got into the Christmas spirit singing a special Strictlyfied version of Winter Wonderland accompanied by professional dancers Aliona Vilani, Iveta Lukosiute, Joanna Clifton and Natalie Lowe.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments