Due to a ‘curse’ that has afflicted candidates for seven series, Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin have a difficult battle in winning Strictly Come Dancing.
While their perfect score of 40 in the quarter-finals – the first on the 2023 BBC series – appeared to be a great win at the time, it now means the odds are stacked against them lifting the glitterball trophy. In life, there is always a catch!
Since 2016, no celebrity has won the programme after topping the scoreboard in the crucial week.
Last year’s victims of the ‘curse’ were Will Mellor, who didn’t even make it to the final, and Helen Skelton.
Rhys Stephenson, who also did not make it to the finals, HRVY, Karim Zeroul, and Faye Tozer, who both scored perfect 40s, Debbie McGee and Alexandra Burke, who both topped the leaderboard in 2017, and finally Danny Mac, who was the first to be hit by the ‘quarter-final curse.’
According to new statistics from William Hill Vegas, the last player to top the leaderboard in the 11th week and go on to win the Glitterball Trophy was Jay McGuiness in 2016.
The 29-year-old musical theatre actor did ultimately get Craig Revel Horwood to remove his 10 paddle for a Moulin Rouge-themed Paso Doble, so if anybody can break the curse, it’s him.
His other judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke praised the couple for their outstanding choreography and had no option but to award Layton the golden 10.
After the event Layton wrote on X, formerly Twitter, about getting the highest possible score from every judge on the panel: ’10’s across the board! Fighting back from the bottom 2 is rough but what a perfect routine for it.’
He also praised Nikita, 25, and complimented him for their victory in the tournament.
‘All credit has to go to the most amazing dance partner and teacher ever – @kuzmin__nikita! Think what you want about me, but give him his flowers plz.’
He continued: ‘Reading all these comments really gave me the boost to go out there and slay for the stageys, theatre fans and MT industry! I’ve been flying the flag for us all since day dot and hope I’m doing ya’ll proud [sic]’.
Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola, who are favourites to win the grand final and have never faced a dance-off, Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe – the pair have also avoided standing under the red light on Sunday’s results shows – and Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell are among Layton’s competitors.
After Nigel Harman and his partner Katya Jones had to withdraw from the competition due to injury, they all received a free trip to the semi-finals.
As a result, this week’s Strictly points will be carried over to the following week, when one couple will be eliminated and the three finals will be announced.
Nigel, 50, explained he had suffered a major injury to his rib after ‘leaping’ during a practice routine where he was ‘supposed to be caught by handsome men,’ but things didn’t go quite to plan.
‘I injured my rib and it’s quite painful,’ he said on Saturday’s Strictly episode, before admitting ‘I’m a little bit high on painkillers as well.’
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday on BBC One and iPlayer.
