STRICTLY Come Dancing fans have called out the show for shaking up the format.
Just minutes into this week’s show, long-time viewers noticed something different to the start of the episode and weren’t too happy about it.
Typically, at the top of each episode a professional routine is performed, before hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are introduced as the Strictly intro is played by the live band.
However, today they shook things up a bit, with the professional dance not happening at all. Instead, Claudia and Tess were already on stage before welcoming the judges, who performed a quick 30-second disco dance together before heading to the panel.
Speaking on X, one viewer wrote: “Is #Strictly live tonight? Bit of an odd start with Tess and Claude on stage straight away?”
“No Tess and Claude intro and then the dancer introduction has a song?! What’s going on?” said a second.
“So they've cut Tess and Claudia's intro too,” added a third, before adding: “They need to be careful - cutting these little things risks taking a little bit of the polish off #strictly.
“We saw that happen with [Dancing On Ice] leaving the show feeling less refined. It's not like the running time has been cut either.”
While a fourth said: “Why are Claudia and Tess just *there*? Why did they not get an intro? Why was there no pro dance to start? I'm not happy about any of this.”
The second week kicked off with another hiccup, with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova suffering a wardrobe malfunction during the first routine.
The disco-inspired track promised a high energy routine, but the pro found herself in trouble with her gold, spangled jumpsuit.
Thankfully it didn’t affect them too much, though they eventually landed a 20 from the judges with their scores.
This week is even more important for the contestants as it will mark the show’s first elimination of the 20th season.
Scores from week one have been rolled over to this week, which will then be combined with the public vote.
The bottom two will have to perform in the dreaded dance-off, with the bottom two being sent home by the judges.
The results show will air on Sunday.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Second Week Scores
As is tradition, the first week scores are rolled over and combined into the second week. Here’s how the leaderboard now looks after the combined scores
- Tasha and Aljaz = 65 (30+35)
- Sarah and Vito = 62 (30+32)
- JB and Amy = 58 (31+27)
- Montell and Johannes = 56 (26+30)
- Wynne and Katya = 56 (26+30)
- Shayne and Nancy = 52 (21+31)
- Chris and Dianne = 52 (23+29)
- Jamie and Michelle = 50 (23+27)
- Sam and Nikita = 45 (23+22)
- Tom and Nadiya = 43 (23+20)
- Nick and Luba = 39 (18+21)
- Pete and Jowita = 39 (17+22)
- Dr Punam and Gorka = 37 (19+18)
- Paul and Karen = 32 (17+15)
- Toyah and Neil = 30 (12+18)
