Love Island star Tasha Ghouri has topped tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing Movie Week leaderboard scoring 34 out of 40.
The 26-year-old performed a “moving” rumba with professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec to What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish from the Barbie movie.
Judge Shirley Ballas, who was dressed as Mary Poppins, told the pair she had just come back from judging the Royal Albert Hall World Championships, and said “there were some people who didn’t do it as good as that”.
Ballas said: “You’ve only had about four days to do this, probably never danced a rumba or seen a rumba a day in your life.
“I found it really quite moving. The sensitivity in the upper half of the body, the co-ordination, elbows, wrists, hands and so on, the beauty between the two of you.
“I thought the lower half, these swivels and everything for four days, were absolutely off the chart.
“Your fluidity, for me, was beautiful. I’ve just come back from judging the Royal Albert Hall world championships, and there were some people who didn’t do it as good as that.”
Morning Live’s Dr Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez performed the first couple’s choice of the show’s 20th anniversary series to Bole Chudiyan from Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, coming joint second scoring 33, and causing Ballas to exclaim “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.
She said: “I’ve been waiting all evening to use this word from Mary Poppins, and I can only say this for this particular number, and that is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
After the performance, Krishan was moved to tears saying she had partly performed the dance in tribute to her grandfather who died during the Covid pandemic.
Following her performance, she said: “I just feel like four-year-old me would have loved to have seen something like this when I was growing up, and I guess you just can’t be what you can’t see.
“So this just wasn’t for my granddad, who sadly passed away during the pandemic, but also for my mum, who came here at the age of 18 with nothing, and was so worried that her girls would grow up not connected to their culture.
“I just wish that I’ve done all my Indian community proud.”
Miranda star Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola’s Viennese waltz to Hedwig’s Theme from the Harry Potter series, described as a tribute to Dame Maggie Smith, and singer Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu’s version of the same dance to If I Can Dream from Elvis, both also scored 33.
It comes after Dame Maggie died in hospital on Friday, September 27, at the age of 89
Comedian Chris McCausland scored 30 with his Wayne’s World-inspired performance with professional partner Dianne Buswell.
The pair appeared as the film’s main characters, with judge Craig Revel-Horwood describing their performance as “packed full of fantastic rhythm”.
Revel-Horwood said: “Strong at kickball changes, they’re a little bit heavy for my liking, but it was full, packed full of fantastic rhythm.”
Singer Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones scored the lowest with 15, performing the samba to Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid, with Revel-Horwood describing the singer as “stuck in the mud”.
He said: “It was all a bit stuck in the mud and flat-footed, but you know what, you brought a magnificent attitude and fantastic character to that dance.”
Revel-Horwood was heckled by Willcox’s husband, King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, while making the comments on her performance – which saw the singer perform with an octopus projected on to the dancefloor.
Willcox later revealed her husband was afraid of the sea creatures.
It comes after Willcox and her partner Neil Jones won last week’s dance-off beating Olympic swimmer Tom Dean and his partner Nadiya Bychkova.
Movie Week has also seen Olympian Montell Douglas tango with Johannes Radebe to One Night Only from Dreamgirls, receiving a score of seven from each of the judges giving them an overall score of 28.
Reality star Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystal performed the samba to the George Of The Jungle theme, scoring 26, while Paul Merson and Karen Hauer did the cha cha to The Magnificent Seven theme, scoring 19.
Former hockey player Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin performed the paso doble to Elevation from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider scoring 30, and Welsh dancer Amy Dowden and JLS member JB Gill danced the American smooth to the song Pure Imagination from Wonka, scoring 32.
Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans and Katya Jones, danced the cha cha to Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag from Mrs Doubtfire, with Evans dressed as the title character, they scored 30.
EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas quickstepped to I’m Still Standing by Sir Elton John from the biopic Rocketman, scoring 30, with judge Motsi Mabuse telling Borthwick “I think the Glitterball is close to you” if he can make his dancing more “tidy”.
DIY SOS star Nick Knowles and his dance partner Luba Mushtuk were due to perform the Charleston to Rain On The Roof from Paddington 2 before Knowles pulled out on Friday.
At the start of the show, presenter Claudia Winkleman sent Nick Knowles “love” and wished him a “speedy recovery” at the start of the episode.
Gutted not to be out there with everyone tonight on the @bbcstrictly dance floor, but still suited up and cheering them on from the sofa! #strictly #strictlycomedancing #bbcstrictly #movieweek pic.twitter.com/TtenCWUqSJ
— Nick Knowles (@MrNickKnowles) October 5, 2024
The 52-year-old explained Knowles would receive a bye to the next round of the show after he said he suffered a “quite painful” knee injury, after falling during rehearsals on Friday.
She said: “Nick we are sending you love and wishing you a speedy recovery.”
Knowles previously revealed he had damaged his arm and shoulder, but received medical clearance to perform on the show last weekend.
In a post on X, he said he was “gutted” to be missing out on the Movie Week special.
He said: “Gutted not to be out there with everyone tonight on the @bbcstrictly dance floor, but still suited up and cheering them on from the sofa.”
The contestants face the second elimination of the 20th anniversary series during Sunday’s live results show, which will air tomorrow at 7.15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
