Strictly Come Dancing 2021: Standards are red-hot

This year’s Strictly Come Dancing is the 19^th edition of the dancing series and, judging by the opening three weeks of the show in 2021, the standard may be one of the best yet.

The judging panel have been scoring very high, with the first ten being awarded in week three to Rhys Stephenson and his partner Nancy Xu. Their performance was followed by a total score of 39 for John Whaite and Johannes Radebe for their incredible Paso Doble.

With the standard so impressive, it is very difficult to predict a winner at this stage. Rose Ayling-Ellis is the bookmakers’ favourite with Strictly odds 2021 of 6/4. She is closely followed by Whaite at 17/10, while AJ Odudu is also a close contender at 7/2.

The Strictly Come Dancing betting tips preview highlighted that Robert Webb has had to withdraw from the show due to health concerns. That was a real shame as the comedian and actor had been very entertaining with his performances over the opening three weeks.

The judges

Anton Du Beke looks at home on the judging panel for the second year, alongside head judge Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse. The Strictly dancer stood in for Bruno Tonioli in 2020 and impressed in that role, so has been invited back this year.

Du Beke competed in 2019, so he knows exactly what the contestants and their partners go through each week to prepare for their performances. He has been very fair with his critique and scores across the opening three weeks. The 55-year-old has said that he would return to being a dancer on the show if the producers invited Tonioli back in 2022 (this year he is taking part in Dancing with the Stars in the United States and, due to travel restrictions, was unable to commit to both shows).

The viewers

Strictly Come Dancing continues to be one of the BBC’s top-performing programmes. The Saturday night prime time show was second in the weekly UK television ranking in the figures provided by BARB, with the week one official rating hitting 9.61 million. 

In week two, Strictly topped the weekly rank for all UK television. It drew in 9.52 million people and had a 48.5% audience share. These are impressive numbers, testament to the fact that the show is clearly very popular with the British television audience.

In what is a change to the regular format, there will be no Blackpool special this year. The celebrities will not have the chance to perform at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Instead, all dances will take place in the studio in London.

Although it will not involve this year’s cast, there will be a Christmas special in Strictly in 2021. This has been one of the best performing Christmas Day programmes in recent years so a big audience is likely to tune in again.

This year’s Strictly Come Dancing final is scheduled for18^th of December – the final weekend before Christmas to kick off the festivities in toe-tapping style.

The editorial unit