Series 18

## Series Chronology

The **eighteenth series** of *Strictly* commenced with a launch show on 17 October 2020 on BBC One, with the live shows starting on 24th October. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series launched a month later than usual and ran for nine weeks instead of the usual thirteen. Likewise, 12 celebrities competed in the series rather than the usual 15.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, with Zoe Ball and Rylan Clark-Neal returning to host *It Takes Two*.

Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Shirley Ballas returned to the judging panel. Bruno Tonioli did not return due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and instead appeared virtually to share his verdict of the performances from the US during the Sunday results show. Mabuse had to miss Weeks 4-5 in accordance with UK government guidelines after travelling, and was replaced by Anton du Beke.

The series was won by Bill Bailey and his professional partner Oti Mabuse.

## Development

Due to the pandemic, several changes were made in how the professional dancers performed their routines, and likewise for the couples. The dancers had to shield at home, before then forming a bubble to allow them to stay in a hotel together, and practise their dances.

In September 2020, it was revealed that there would be a same-sex couple competing in the series, following a similar change in the Australian version and for the American version's upcoming season, which was delayed to the following season in 2021.

Due to the shorter series, only 12 couples competed, which was the fewest since Series 3. In addition, due to the pandemic, there was no Blackpool Week or Halloween Week during this series.

The Series Final featured a tribute to 2014 series winner Caroline Flack, who died on 15th February that year.

## Professionals

All professionals from Series 17 were confirmed to return for the new series, except Kevin Clifton and AJ Pritchard whom both left the show after seven and four years respectively. Neil Jones and Nadiya Bychkova did not get a partner this series, and just featured in the professional group routines, alongside Graziano Di Prima and Nancy Xu.

## Couples

On September 1st, actress Caroline Quentin, former NFL player Jason Bell and *The Wanted* singer Max George were announced as the first three celebrities on the lineup for the series.

Olympic boxer Nicola Adams was announced as fourth contestant on 2nd. It was also announced she would feature in the show's first same-sex couple. Adams' celebrity reveal was followed by Jamie Laing who was announced to be competing after withdrawing from Series 17 due to an injury sustained after the Series Launch Show. Other celebrity reveals continued throughout the week, with the full lineup revealed on September 4th.

## Scoring Chart

*Red numbers*  indicate the couples with the lowest score for each week.
Green numbers  indicate the couples with the highest score for each week.
"-" indicates the couple(s) that did not dance that week.
     indicates the couple that was eliminated that week.
     indicates the couple who was in the bottom two but was not eliminated.
     indicates the couple withdrew from the competition that week.
     indicates the winning couple.
     indicates the runner-up couple.
     indicates the third place couple.

## Dance Scoring

### Highest and Lowest Scoring Performance

* *The best and worst performances in each dance style, according to the judges' scale.*

### Couples' Highest and Lowest Scoring Dances

*The highest and lowest performances of each couple during the series.*

## Weekly Scores

*Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse.*

### Launch Show

* *Featuring musical guests, Joel Corry feat. MNEK, with a performance of their song, "Head & Heart".*

### Week 2

* *Featuring musical guest, Sam Smith, with a performance of his song "Diamonds".*

**Dance Off:** Jamie & Karen, Jacqui & Anton

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Jamie & Karen
* Mabuse: Jamie & Karen
* Ballas: *did not vote, but would have saved Jamie & Karen.*

**Eliminated Couple**: Jacqui & Anton

### Week 3: Movies Week

* *Featuring musical guests, The Kanneh-Masons, with a performance of "Ave Maria".*

**Dance Off:** Nicola & Katya, Jason & Luba

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Nicola & Katya
* Mabuse: Nicola & Katya
* Ballas: *did not vote, but would have saved Nicola & Katya.*

**Eliminated Couple**: Jason & Luba

### Week 4

*Individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Anton du Beke*.

* *Featuring musical guests, The Vamps, with a performance of their song, "Married in Vegas".*
* Unfortunately Nicola & Katya withdrew ahead of this week's show, after Katya tested positive for COVID-19.

**Dance Off:** Maisie & Gorka, Max & Dianne

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Maisie & Gorka
* Du Beke: Maisie & Gorka
* Ballas: *did not vote, but would have saved Maisie & Gorka.*

**Eliminated Couple**: Max & Dianne

### Week 5

*Individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Anton du Beke*.

* *Featuring musical guest, Billy Ocean, with a medley performance of his songs, "Love Really Hurts Without You", "Red Light Spells Danger", "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going".*

**Dance Off:** Maisie & Gorka, Caroline & Johannes

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Maisie & Gorka
* Du Beke: Maisie & Gorka
* Ballas: *did not vote, but would have saved Maisie & Gorka.*

**Eliminated Couple**: Caroline & Johannes

### Week 6

* *Featuring musical guest, Gary Barlow, with a performance of his song, "Elita", and dance guests,* The Greatest Dancer *champions, Michael & Jowita, dancing to "Spectrum (Say My Name).*

**Dance Off:** Clara & Aljaž, Jamie & Karen

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Clara & Aljaž
* Mabuse: Jamie & Karen
* Ballas: Jamie & Karen

**Eliminated Couple**: Caroline & Johannes

### Week 7: Musicals Week (Quarter-Final)

* *Featuring musical guest, Marisha Wallace, with a performance of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music.*

**Dance Off:** JJ & Amy, Jamie & Karen

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Jamie & Karen
* Mabuse: JJ & Amy
* Ballas: Jamie & Karen

**Eliminated Couple**: JJ & Amy

### Week 8: Semi-Final

* *Featuring musical guests, Little Mix, with a performance of their song, "Break Up Song".*

**Dance Off:** Jamie & Karen, Ranvir & Giovanni

* *For the Dance Off, Jamie & Karen chose their Salsa, and Ranvir & Giovanni chose their American Smooth.*

*Judges' votes to save: (in event of tie, Ballas, as Head Judge, has deciding vote)*

* Horwood: Jamie & Karen
* Mabuse: Ranvir & Giovanni
* Ballas: Jamie & Karen

**Eliminated Couple**: Ranvir & Giovanni

### Week 9: Final

* *Featuring musical guest, Robbie Williams, with a performance of his song, "Time for Change"*

**Strictly Champions**: Bill & Oti

## Series Trivia

* Bill Bailey became Strictly's oldest winner, at 55 years old.
* Oti Mabuse became the first professional to win the show for a second consecutive time.
* Mabuse was also the second professional to win twice, the first being Aliona Vilani.