This year’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ just got interesting, with Ore Oduba and his partner Joanne Clifton - NOT Danny Mac and partner Oti Mabuse - scoring the first ten of this year’s competition for their jive dance.
The couple earned a whopping 39 points in total from the judges. Ore was in tears as the panel took turn to praise his efforts. Len Goodman even compared him with last year’s winner Jay McGuinness, saying “Move over Jay - you’ve turned up!”
Craig Revel Horwood, naturally, was the only judge to give less than a ten, but even he announced Ore was now “the one to beat” - news for Danny Mac, dubbed the early favourite this year.
It’s been an emotional couple of weeks for the former Newsround presenter. Last week saw him perform a tribute to ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ star Gene Kelly with his American Smooth, and he later shared a note he’d received from Gene’s widow Patricia Ward Kelly, full of praise and affection for his dance. “Seriously can’t believe what’s happening,” was Ore’s response.
Danny Mac and his partner Oti still scored highly this weekend, coming second with 36 points, while Ed Balls and partner Katya Jones brought up the rear, earning 16 points.
The results show airs tonight on BBC One at 7.15pm.