Few dances split opinion on Strictly quite like the Cha Cha
Cha. Loved by some for its cheeky energy, dreaded by others for its difficult
technique, it’s been part of the show since the very beginning – and this
weekend, it will be performed for the 250th time. To celebrate, I’m
taking a deep dive into its Strictly story so far.
Over the years, the Cha Cha Cha has built quite a reputation
on Strictly. It’s the go-to Latin dance for Week 1, often giving a very early
sense of which celebrities can handle fancy footwork and who might struggle
with the timing. Its playful vibe makes it a crowd-pleaser, but its relentless
pace and exposing nature mean it’s also a minefield for nervous newcomers. With
almost 250 outings to look back on, there’s plenty of evidence to see just how
the Cha Cha Cha has shaped Strictly history.
Cha Cha by the Numbers
Let’s delve into the statistics now, with a look at the Cha
Cha Cha in years gone by. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be looking at
the 245 competitive Cha Cha Chas performed up until the end of Series
22. Scores from weeks when there were three or five judges have been adjusted
appropriately to work on the 40-point scale. These 245 performances included eight
‘repeats’: dances being performed again in the final, meaning that there were 237
unique Cha Cha Chas danced.
This means that of the 309 Strictly contestants in the first
22 series, 76.7% of them performed the Cha Cha Cha at some point during
their time on the show. Only two finalists have skipped the dance, those being
Simon Webbe in Series 12 and AJ Odudu in Series 19 (although Simon had
previously danced a Cha Cha Cha in the 2011 Christmas special). Series 11 and
12 have seen the most Cha Cha Chas performed, each with 15 (although these both
included at least one repeat).
Series 1 has the fewest, with six (though this was also the
shortest series). Series 10 is the only series in which every contestant
performed the Cha Cha Cha, and shares the record for most unique Cha Cha Chas
with Series 11 (both with 14). The series with the most contestants to avoid
the Cha Cha Cha are Series 4 and 5, each with seven. This is largely due to the
format in those series meaning that only half the celebrities danced in Week 1,
when the Cha Cha Cha tends to be brought out.
At the conclusion of Series 22, the 245 Cha Cha Chas had
scored an average of 25.57; the lowest for any dance style on Strictly.
Series 20 (2022) saw the highest-scoring Cha Cha Chas, with an average score of
28.46 for the thirteen dances that year. This is closely followed by Series 22
(28.08) and Series 4 (28). Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the facts mentioned
above, Series 10 has the lowest average score for a Cha Cha Cha with 21.86.
Over the years, 39 tens have been awarded to the Cha
Cha Cha; of the dance styles regularly performed on Strictly, only the Rumba
has scored fewer (with 38). Two of these came from guest judge Darcey Bussell
in Series 7. The series in which the most tens were awarded to Cha Cha Chas is
Series 6 (2008) with six, whilst 12 out of 22 series saw the dance fail to
receive a single ten. Lisa Snowdon, Ricky Whittle and Sarah Hadland are the
individual contestants with the most tens for the Cha Cha Cha, each with five.
However, we have only seen three perfect-scoring Cha
Cha Chas danced on Strictly. Again, of the regularly-performed dance styles,
only the Rumba has fewer (with zero), and the Cha Cha Cha is tied with the
Foxtrot and the Paso Doble. All of these dances have been performed by female
celebrities, and all of them were repeats of a previous performance. Lisa
Snowdon (2008), Caroline Flack (2014) and most recently Sarah Hadland (2024)
all scored a perfect 40 for their Cha Cha Cha.
At the other end of the scale, the Cha Cha Cha has also been
responsible for some of the worst performances in Strictly history; most
notably Quentin Willson’s dance disahster in Series 2, which with just 8
(1, 1, 3, 3) still holds the record for lowest-ever Strictly score. Other
particularly excruciating routines came from Diarmuid Gavin (2004), John
Sergeant (2008) and Charlotte Hawkins (2017), all of whom scored 12 points*.
* The bulk of this article was written before Ross &
Jowita danced their Cha Cha Cha in Week 1 of Series 23, scoring just 10 points.
First Impressions
I mentioned earlier that the Cha Cha Cha tends to be brought
out in Week 1. We certainly saw that that was the case this year, with four
couples making their Strictly debuts with the dance, however, in the preceding
22 series, 105 celebrities (a whopping 33.98%) have performed the Cha
Cha Cha as their first dance. That is thanks in no small part to the fact that
for the first ten series of Strictly, Week 1 usually showcased only the Cha Cha
Cha and the Waltz.
These 105 contestants have received an average score of 22.91
for their Cha Cha Chas, slightly lower than the average for all opening dances
of 23.64, suggesting that being given this style in Week 1 is a tricky task. In
fact, the only dance with a lower average score as a first dance is the Tango,
with 21.99. Twelve contestants have scored in the thirties for a Week 1 Cha Cha
Cha, with Colin Jackson (2005) and Jason Donovan (2011) scoring 32 points to
beat the rest.
Exactly half of all Strictly champions (11 out of 22) have
started with the Cha Cha Cha, with the highest-scoring being Kara Tointon, who
earned 30 for her performance in 2010. A total of 27 finalists have performed
the Cha Cha Cha in Week 1; of these, five have scored below 20, with Jamie
Laing’s 18.67 (adjusted from 14/30) being the lowest. Seven contestants have
been knocked out first after starting with the Cha Cha Cha, although only
Quentin Willson has suffered the indignity of a Week 1 elimination.
Nine contestants have topped the leaderboard with a Week 1 Cha
Cha Cha, most recently Faye Tozer in 2018, whilst another nine have ended up at
the bottom. Three contestants have danced the Cha Cha Cha in Week 1, only to
end up performing it again in the final. These are Natalie Gumede, Caroline
Flack and Mark Wright. The ‘repeat’ dances scored an average of 38 points, and
improved by an average of 10.67 from the first time around.
Judges’ Perspective
How do different members of the panel tend to score the Cha Cha
Cha? I mentioned earlier the average score for the Cha Cha Cha, and this is
equivalent to an average score of 6.39 per judge; once again, this is
significantly lower than the average score for all dances of 7.39. Before I
look at the Cha Cha Cha statistics specifically, let’s take a quick look at
which judges are normally the most generous.
By the end of Series 22, the most generous judge was Anton,
who scored 551 routines an average of 8.11. Other current judges Motsi and
Shirley round out the top three, with 7.90 and 7.73 respectively.
Unsurprisingly, Craig is at the other end of the list, having awarded an
average score of 6.73. Arlene is next with 7.05, and the other judges (Darcey,
Bruno, Alesha, Len) all have very similar averages.
Of the nine people who have appeared as a regular judge on
Strictly, all of them have scored the Cha Cha Cha lower on average than other
dances. The harshest critics of the dance are Craig and Shirley, who scored the
dance on average 1.25 and 1.16 points lower than their average score for all
dances, respectively. Anton has the smallest difference, with just 0.74 points
between his two scores. He is followed by Len with 0.85, Alesha with 0.87 and
Arlene with 0.88.
Generally, judges’ scoring patterns for the Cha Cha Cha tend
to reflect their scores overall, with the ranking of average scores hardly changing.
Anton has awarded Cha Cha Chas the highest scores on average, with 7.37; whilst
Craig’s 5.48 remains the lowest by quite some distance. As a matter of fact,
the only change to the ranking is Shirley, who is the third-most generous judge
overall, but drops four places to seventh when we consider only the Cha Cha Cha.
Bruno is the judge who has awarded the most tens to the Cha
Cha Cha, with ten. He is followed by Len with six, Darcey five and Motsi and
Anton both with four. Craig and Shirley have both awarded three tens to the dance,
whilst Alesha and Arlene are tied for fewest tens, each having awarded the
dance just two maximum scores during their respective stints on the judging
panel.
Pros and Partnerships
Between them, our current cast of professional dancers on
Strictly have performed the Cha Cha Cha 73 times, receiving an average
score of 26.25 and 17 tens in the process. Apart from new dancers Alexis and
Julian, the only professional who has not danced this style on Strictly is
Michelle. Karen has performed the Cha Cha Cha most frequently, with eleven. The
only dancers to have performed the Cha Cha Cha with all of their celebrity
partners are AljaΕΎ, Carlos, Johannes, Lauren and Vito.
As of the end of Series 22, Vito had the highest average
score for the Cha Cha Cha out of the current cast, with 35.75 having performed
the dance four times. He has also scored the most tens for the Cha Cha Cha, with
six, and is the only current professional to have received a perfect score for
the dance. Other dancers with an average score greater than 30 are Carlos, Jowita,
Nancy and Nikita. Luba has the lowest average score, with 19, though she has
only danced the Cha Cha Cha once.
The Cha Cha Cha has spelled danger for eight of our current
professionals, who have had to perform the style in the dance-off at some point
during their Strictly careers. The unluckiest dancers when it comes to the Cha
Cha Cha are Johannes and Nadiya, who have both been knocked out on the dance
twice. Carlos and Dianne have also been eliminated dancing the Cha Cha Cha;
whilst Amy, Gorka, Karen and Nancy have managed to survive the bottom two.
Looking at pros from years gone by, other particularly
high-scoring Cha Cha Cha dancers include Ian Waite (30.67), Anya Garnis (33 –
only one dance), Matthew Cutler (33.5) and Trent Whiddon, who scored 35 for his
only Cha Cha Cha outing with Pixie Lott. Twelve professionals have scored at
least one ten for the dance with Vito, Gorka, Jowita, Dianne and Nikita being the
only current cast members on the list. Vito’s record of six tens, however, is
not matched by any other pro, past or present.
Trends and Takeaways
Whilst it is undoubtedly a Strictly staple, the Cha Cha Cha
doesn’t tend to be a leaderboard booster; I’ve already mentioned that it has
the lowest average score of any dance on Strictly, but possibly more startling
is the fact that 11.39% of Cha Cha Chas performed in non-final weeks*
ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard. Comparing this to the 8.44% that
topped the table clearly highlights the difficulty of getting this dance right.
* Finals are not included as judges’ scores are given
only for guidance and have no bearing on the result.
In addition, more than a quarter of Cha Cha Chas danced in
elimination weeks (26.45%) resulted in a bottom two appearance for the
couple involved. To add insult to injury, the Cha Cha Cha doesn’t tend to save
you in the dance-off either, with 14.19% of couples performing the dance
in an elimination week finding themselves knocked out – that is to say, 53.65%
of couples stuck in the bottom two with a Cha Cha Cha were eliminated.
The Cha Cha Cha has been performed to 181 different songs on
Strictly, with three favourites each being used on four different occasions.
They are “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel (used by Denise Lewis, Anita Dobson, Helen
George and Annabel Croft), Wham’s “I’m Your Man” (used by Richard Dunwoody,
Richie Anderson and twice by Mark Wright) and various versions of “Beggin’” (used
by Chelsee Healey, Fiona Fullerton, Danny John-Jules and Adam Peaty).
After 250 outings, the Cha Cha Cha remains a Strictly
classic – unpredictable, entertaining and always a test of personality as much
as technique. It is the dance with the most performances on Strictly, and love
it or loathe it, the Cha Cha Cha isn’t going anywhere – so here’s to the next
250!
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