Strictly leaderboard: Who reached the top and who sunk to the bottom in week 2?

First couple will be eliminated from the competition on Sunday

Strictly Come Dancing has returned to screens, with a new roster of contestants in the running to win the Glitter Ball trophy.

The BBC competition series arrived back on screens last week on Saturday (24 September), with 15 stars hitting the dance floor with their professional partners for the first time.

After a first week of varying dance abilities, Will Mellora and Hamza Yassin emerged at the joint top spot with an impressive 34 out of 40 marks each.

Tony Adams, meanwhile, landed at the bottom end of the leaderboard with just 15 points for his Arsenal-themed tango.

There was a major shake-up in the second week of Strictly, however, with the results of Saturday night’s episode (1 October) leading to dramatic changes in the leaderboard.

Molly Rainford and her partner Carlos Gu are now at the top spot with 65 points, while Tony Adams and Katya Jones lagging at the bottom with 37 points.

Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice impressed the judges with their quick step, which they performed wearing sequin tuxedo jackets.

Their dance almost earned the pair the highest score of the night, raking in eights from all four judges for a total of 32 out of a possible 40. It was a huge improvement on their week one performance, which only received 23 points.

(BBC One)

However, the last duo of the night Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu managed to bump Richie and Giovanni from the top spot with their quick step to Beyonce’s song “Love on Top”.

Meanwhile, Tyler West was called “the real deal” by Shirley Ballas after a fan-favourite jive performed to “Hit The Road Jack” and Ellie Simmonds earned a standing ovation for her “emotional” waltz.

The new leaderboard will then be combined with the public votes, with the bottom two couples facing the dreaded dance off and the first couple leaving the competition.

Ahead of Sunday’s results show (2 October), this is how the Strictly leaderboard stands…

The cast of ‘Strictly 2022' (BBC/Guy Levy)

Week one and two leaderboard

Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu = 65 (7, 8, 8, 8) (8, 9, 9, 8)

Will Mellor and Nancy Xu = 60 (8, 9, 8, 9) (6, 7, 6, 7)

Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystal = 58 (8, 9, 9, 8) (4, 7, 6, 7)

Fleur East and Vito Coppola = 57 (7, 7, 7, 8) (7, 8, 6, 7)

Ellie Simmonds and Nikita Kuzmin = 56 (6, 7, 7, 6) (7, 8, 7, 8)

Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice = 55 (5, 5, 6, 7) (8, 8, 8, 8)

Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez = 53 (6, 7, 6, 7) (5, 7, 7, 8)

Tyler West and Dianne Buswell = 53 (4, 5, 7, 6) (7, 8, 8, 8)

Ellie Taylor and Johannes Radebe = 51 (6, 7, 7, 8) (4, 7, 5, 7)

Kym Marsh and Graziano Di Prima = 50 (4, 6, 6, 7) (6, 7, 7, 7)

Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer = 49 (4, 7, 6, 6) (6, 7, 6, 7)

James Bye and Amy Dowden = 46 (6, 5, 5, 6) ( (5, 6, 6, 7)

Kaye Adams and Kai Widdrington = 43 (6, 5, 5, 5) (4, 6, 6, 6)

Matt Goss and Nadiya Bychkova = 42 (5, 5, 5, 5) (4, 6, 6,6)

Tony Adams and Katya Jones = 37 (3, 4, 4, 4) (4, 6, 6, 6)

Strictly Come Dancing continues Sunday 2 October at 7.15pm on BBC One.