Here’s a spoiler-filled recap of tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing 2019 latest live show.
So far seven couples have left the competition – and tonight (November 9) the remaining eight dancing duos performed a brand new set of routines in a bid to make Blackpool.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman were back to host the show, as the celebs competed to make it through to the annual special at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom next Saturday.
The couples hit the dancefloor in order to try and win over judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood – as well as those watching at home.
The judges gave their scores out of 10 as usual which will be added to the viewers’ votes in Sunday’s results.
Saffron Barker was top of the scoreboard for a second time, scoring a near-perfect 39 points. Her Waltz with pro partner AJ Pritchard won unanimous praise, with Motsi describing it as her favourite dance of the series.
Placing second on the scoreboard was Michelle Visage who won rave reviews from the judges with her American Smooth receiving 36 points.
Kelvin Fletcher’s Salsa was described as “hiptastic” by Craig, scoring 35 points, while after placing bottom of last week’s scoreboard, Emma Barton’s Theatre/Jazz Couple’s Choice routine scored her best marks in five weeks with 33 points.
Alex Scott returned to the dancefloor with Neil Jones after he spent two weeks out with an injury. Dancing the Jive, the newly reunited pair won 31 points and plenty of praise from Motsi in particular.
Meanwhile, a couple of mistakes cost last week’s scoreboard leader Karim Zeroual marks. His Viennese Waltz scored 30 points – but Motsi still named him “the one to beat”.
At the bottom end of the leaderboard, Chris Ramsey’s Tango scored 26 points with Craig awarding just 5 marks after branding the performance a “technical disaster”.
But it was Mike Bushell who was last place in the judges’ rankings with 25 points, attempting to bounce back from a third week in the dance off with a Paso Doble that failed to get the judges on board.
> Strictly Come Dancing 2019 leaderboard: Week 8 scores and results.
The total judges’ marks will now be combined with the results from the latest public vote tonight.
As always the celebrity couples in the bottom two of the overall rankings will find themselves having to dance again in tomorrow night’s (Sunday) results show.
Remember, Strictly returns on Sunday night on BBC One with the results from 7:20PM. As well as the results, there will be a musical performance from West End and Hollywood superstar Luke Evans, plus the judges will once again be putting Saturday night’s routines under the microscope.
