Strictly 2025, Week 1: Sequins, Scores and Surprises

Week 1 of Strictly Come Dancing is always about first impressions: not just for the celebrities, but for the data as well. The opening dances gave us our first glimpse of potential frontrunners, dark horses and those who might struggle to keep the pace. Whilst it’s too early to predict the glitterball winner, the scores already reveal patterns worth keeping an eye on: which pros set their partners up for success, which dance styles proved friendliest and who might be facing an uphill battle in the weeks ahead.

Topping the first leaderboard of the series was Karen & Carlos with their Jive to Blondie’s “One Way or Another”. They scored 31 points, matching last year’s Week 1 chart-topper JB Gill, and meaning that Karen is the only member of this year’s cast currently in the ‘thirty club’: the exclusive group of celebrities who never scored below 30 for any of their dances. As Claudia mentioned during the show, Karen is the first footballer to top the leaderboard since John Barnes all the way back in 2007. Of all the footballers to have appeared on Strictly, Karen performed the highest-scoring first dance, and is tied with Alex Scott for highest-scoring Jive (although Alex’s was performed in Week 8).

Karen & Carlos closed the show this week – this tends to bring good results in Week 1; since 2017, five of the nine couple to have danced last in the opening week have also received the highest score of the night. This is certainly a team that is looking strong: other contestants to have scored 31 for their first dance include Alesha Dixon, Danny Mac, Karim Zeroual and Carlos’ first partner Molly Rainford. In fact, the only contestant to have achieved this score for their first dance and not reached the final is Aston Merrygold, so I think good things lie ahead for Karen.

Second place went to Lewis & Katya, who also danced the Jive; making this the first week of Strictly since 2008 (Series 6, Week 3) to have two Jives at the top of the leaderboard – although it is worth mentioning that back then the Jive was one of only two styles being performed that week. Lewis scored 28 points for his dance, a Week 1 score matched by previous winners Tom Chambers and Harry Judd, as well as Susanna Reid and Patrick Robinson; both of whom also danced a Week 1 Jive and went on to reach the top five. The song, “Get Ready” by The Temptations, has been used once before on Strictly, in fact for another Week 1 Jive: Greg Rutherford danced to it with Natalie in 2016, scoring 27 – they were eliminated in Blackpool.

Both Amber & Nikita and Jimmy & Lauren earned a score of 27 for their first dances. With far less training time than any of the others, Amber did particularly well to turn out such a competent Waltz. Things look promising for her as well; other contestants to have scored 27 for a Week 1 Waltz include Jill Halfpenny and Chelsee Healey. Jimmy’s Quickstep earned Lauren her highest Week 1 score to date (though there isn’t much competition in that particular area). 27 is, of course, the first score of six previous Strictly winners, so perhaps we should be watching these two couples very closely.

George & Alexis and La Voix & Aljaž both scored 24 for an American Smooth this week, both dancing to songs never used before on Strictly. Of course, this was Alexis’ first dance on Strictly as well, making her the first ever pro to debut with an American Smooth. Other contestants to score 24 on their debut include Alexandra Burke, Stacey Dooley, and fellow performers of the American Smooth Greg Wise and Judi Love, both from Series 19. Just behind them, Vicky & Kai scored 23 for their Cha Cha Cha (the highest-scoring Cha Cha Cha of the evening). Last year’s winner Chris McCausland earned the same score for his Week 1 Cha Cha Cha, as did eventual runner-up Matt di Angelo in 2007.

Next on the leaderboard was Stefan & Dianne, who scored 22 points for their Foxtrot. Other contestants to have danced the Foxtrot first include Gillian Taylforth and Charlotte Hawkins, both of whom scored 22 but neither of whom survived any further than Week 4. It’s not all bad news for Stefan though; Lisa Snowdon, Rose Ayling-Ellis and previous Dianne partner Tyler West all scored 22 for their first dances and made it much further into the competition. Funnily enough, this was the first time we’ve heard the ‘Neighbours’ theme on Strictly, and I believe only the second time we’ve had a celebrity dance to the theme tune of a show they were actually in, after James Bye danced to the ‘EastEnders’ theme in Series 20.

Alex & Johannes were, in my opinion, the biggest victims of the running order this week, performing second on the night with a dance I think may well have scored more than the 21 it received had it gone later. It was, however, better than Johannes’ other Week 1 Viennese Waltz, which was his first ever dance on Strictly when he performed it with Catherine Tyldesley in 2019, scoring 20. “Cry me a River” has been used several times before on Strictly but always as an American Smooth; Kara & Artem did a particularly nice one but Len wasn’t a fan of the choreography, marking them down significantly both times they performed it. Other contestants to score 21 in Week 1 include Tom Fletcher, Tilly Ramsay, and… Ed Balls. Let’s hope Alex is more like the former than the latter!

Six celebrities scored lower than 20 this week, a record for any Strictly show. Of those, Harry & Karen scored highest, earning 19 points for their Cha Cha Cha. Whilst it landed them tenth on the leaderboard, all hope is far from lost as Strictly legends Darren Gough and Matt Dawson both began their Strictly journeys in exactly the same way. Behind Harry were two celebrities tied on 17 points, the first of which was Ellie & Vito, also dancing the Cha Cha Cha. Vito has the highest average score of all the current professionals, and this was unfortunately the lowest score he has ever received. The only current professionals never to have scored lower than 20 are Kai, Nikita, Carlos, Lauren, Michelle and of course Alexis.

Also with a score of 17 was Balvinder & Julian, performing the Samba. They danced to “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” by KC and the Sunshine Band, a song last heard on Strictly as part of Tyler & Dianne’s Salsa medley in Series 20. As another new pro, Julian joins Karen and Dianne as dancers that received a score of 17 for their first dance. The only current professionals to have lower-scoring first dances are Amy (16) and Luba (11). Other celebrities to score 17 in Week 1 include Sara Davies, who went on to perform some excellent ballroom routines, and quarter-finalist Nicky Byrne, but also the Reverend Richard Coles and (whisper it) Ann Widdecombe.

Entering the leaderboard’s bottom three, we come to Thomas & Amy, whose Paso Doble scored 16 points. This was the routine that most divided the judges this week, with a 3-point gap between Craig’s score (2) and those of Shirley and Anton (5). This was the lowest-scoring Week 1 Paso in Strictly history, and Amy’s joint-lowest score for a first dance. Chris & Nadiya opened the show with their Samba, scoring 14 points. Not only was this the lowest ever score for the first dance of a series, it was also Nadiya’s lowest opening score and the lowest ever score for a Samba performed by a male celebrity. The only other celebrities to score 14 for their first dance are Nicholas Owen, Georgina Bouzova and Anneka Rice – none of whom made it past Week 4.

Finally, Ross & Jowita scored just 10 points for their Cha Cha Cha. They danced to Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”, a song that has been used once before on Strictly, by Tina O’Brien all the way back in 2010, scoring 24. Only one couple has ever received a lower score for a first dance; that was, of course, Quentin Willson and Hazel Newberry in 2004. This dance earned the joint-second-lowest score in Strictly history, tied with David James’ Paso Doble from 2019. It also has the unfortunate distinction of being the only routine ever to score less than a 4 from Anton. At this point, Ross also has the second-lowest average score of all 324 Strictly contestants; however, that will hopefully change next week.

Overall, the fifteen dances this week received an average score of 21.33. This is the lowest average score for any first show in Strictly history. The standard deviation this week (this is a measure of how spread out the scores are) was 5.81, the highest of any series in the post-Covid era. That being said, the gap between highest and lowest score of 21 points isn’t the largest we’ve seen for a first week (that was the difference of 23 between Denise Lewis and Quentin Willson in Series 2), instead tying with Series 17 for second place. The largest gap between two couples’ scores in any week of Strictly came in the third week of Series 17, when Kelvin & Oti scored 38 and Anneka & Kevin scored 11. The judges were largely in agreement with each other this week, with eleven couples receiving the same score from at least three members of the panel.

So who could be in danger next week? At the time of writing, the full list of dances for Week 2 hasn’t been released yet, but we found out on Monday’s It Takes Two that both Alex and Amber will be performing the Samba, and Harry will be dancing the Quickstep. A Week 2 Samba is dangerous; of the six that have been performed on Strictly, three ended up in the dance-off and only one has scored more than 25 points. Hopefully Johannes and Nikita will be able to steer their partners clear of the danger zone.

Sitting four points adrift at the bottom of the leaderboard, Ross will be feeling the pressure going into this week. He will need to put in a much improved performance to boost his score; and even then, the public vote remains a bit of an unknown. Chris and Thomas will also be hoping to pull something out of the bag. In theory, all three of them should be dancing ballroom next week, which will hopefully give them a bit of a boost.

The first couple of weeks of Strictly are always fun; and in Week 2, the real test begins: can the frontrunners build on their momentum, and will the lower scorers find their rhythm before the dance-off looms? Either way, the stats will keep us honest – and the glitterball journey has only just begun.