Last Updated: 27 September 2026

Strictly Come Dancing 2026: 15 Stars, Week 1 Scores Revealed

Strictly Come Dancing 2026 is officially under way, and the new series has already thrown up a genuine surprise. A football YouTuber with barely any dance training has stormed to the top of the week 1 leaderboard, while some of the biggest names in the cast are languishing near the bottom with scores of just 15.

The launch show aired on Saturday 19 September, when the 15 celebrities were paired with their professional partners in front of a huge BBC One audience. Then, on Saturday 26 September, the first live show saw every couple perform for the judges for the first time — and the scores are now in.

In this guide, we cover everything you need to know: the full celebrity line-up and their pro partners, the complete week 1 leaderboard, the show’s brand-new presenting trio, the five new professional dancers joining the troupe, and exactly when and how to watch every remaining episode.

Quick answer: Strictly Come Dancing 2026 is the 24th series of the BBC’s celebrity ballroom competition, airing on BBC One and iPlayer from 19 September 2026. Fifteen celebrities are paired with professional dancers, judged weekly by Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke. John Nellis and Katya Jones top the week 1 leaderboard with 31 points.

What Is Strictly Come Dancing 2026? The Format Explained

Strictly Come Dancing is the BBC’s long-running celebrity dance contest, and the 2026 series is its 24th. Each week, celebrities perform a ballroom or Latin routine with a professional dance partner, earning marks out of 40 from the four judges. Those scores are combined with the public vote, and the lowest-ranked couples face the dance-off until one pair lifts the Glitterball Trophy in the final.

One quirk of the opening weeks is that nobody goes home in week 1. The first elimination of Strictly Come Dancing 2026 takes place in the results show on Sunday 4 October, when the judges’ scores are combined with the public vote for the first time and the lowest-ranked couple faces the dance-off. The launch show itself — filmed on 9 September and aired on 19 September at 7.25pm — ran for one hour and 45 minutes.

This year brings the biggest shake-up in the show’s history. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have taken over as presenters after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepped down at the end of last year’s series. It is the first time the main series has been fronted by a three-person hosting team.

The judges, at least, are unchanged. Head judge Shirley Ballas sits alongside Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke once again. The professional line-up has seen more change, with five new dancers joining the troupe this year.

The Strictly Come Dancing 2026 Line-Up in Full

The Strictly Come Dancing 2026 cast is one of the most varied in recent memory. It mixes soap royalty, Olympic and Paralympic champions, a chart-topping singer, reality TV winners and even Britain’s best-known dog trainer. Here are the 15 celebrities taking to the floor this year:

• Lacey Turner — the EastEnders star, best known as Stacey Slater
• Dani Dyer — Love Island winner, returning after an ankle injury forced her to withdraw from the 2025 series
• Delta Goodrem — Australian singer and former Neighbours star
• Chris Appleton — celebrity hairstylist to the stars
• Cach Mercer — Love Island winner and content creator
• Will Best — television and radio presenter, and host of Big Brother
• Dame Sarah Storey — Britain’s most successful Paralympian
• Jaime Winstone — actress and daughter of Ray Winstone
• Bethany Antonia — actress, known for House of the Dragon
• Shaun Wright-Phillips — former England and Chelsea footballer
• Graeme Hall — the Dogs Behaving Badly trainer
• Lawrence Robb — Emmerdale star, who plays Mackenzie Boyd
• Tabby Stoecker — Team GB skeleton athlete and gold medallist at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina
• John Nellis — football YouTuber and content creator
• Melanie Walters — Gavin & Stacey star

One of the most talked-about signings is Tabby Stoecker, who won skeleton gold for Team GB at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year. She has also signed up for the next series of Gladiators, making 2026 a huge year for the 25-year-old. “I am buzzing! But I will say it still genuinely feels like a dream, someone pinch me,” she said when her Strictly place was confirmed. “I can’t comprehend that I’m actually going to be the person dancing in the sparkly dress and heels on the telly!”

The early form guide makes interesting reading. John Nellis — a football YouTuber few viewers had heard of before the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 launch — now sits top of the pile after a foxtrot that earned 31 out of 40. Delta Goodrem’s 30 suggests the singer could go deep into the series, while Lacey Turner’s 27 marks her out as the soap star to beat. At the other end, Dame Sarah Storey — Britain’s most decorated Paralympian — has it all to do after a week 1 score of 15, though history shows that slow starters can still win the Glitterball.

If you enjoy celebrity profiles, you may also like our feature on Irita Marriott, the BBC television personality who built a business from her antiques expertise.

Celebrity and Professional Pairs From the Launch Show

The pairings for the new series were unveiled during the launch show of Strictly Come Dancing 2026, which was filmed on 9 September and aired on Saturday 19 September. Rather than the old pre-recorded reveals, this year’s celebrities discovered their partners live in front of the studio audience through specially choreographed group routines.

• Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola
• Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin
• Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden
• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington
• Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby
• Will Best and Dianne Buswell
• Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon
• Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu
• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu
• Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr
• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley
• Lawrence Robb and Jowita PrzystaÅ‚
• Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita
• John Nellis and Katya Jones
• Melanie Walters and Aljaž Å korjanec

Plenty of these partnerships have already set tongues wagging. Dani Dyer with Nikita Kuzmin is a fan favourite on paper, while Jaime Winstone dancing with Carlos Gu is a neat twist — Gu won last year’s series with footballer Karen Carney. The full confirmed cast is covered in depth in Radio Times’ Strictly Come Dancing 2026 cast guide.

Week 1 Scores and the Leaderboard

Saturday 26 September brought the first live show of the series, and the judges finally got a proper look at what the celebrities can do. The night opened with a group performance from the judges and the professionals, before Will Best and Dianne Buswell kicked the competition off with a samba to Robbie Williams’ Rock DJ.

The shock of the night came from John Nellis and Katya Jones, whose foxtrot to Alex Warren’s Ordinary earned 31 points and put them top of the leaderboard. Hot on their heels were Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington with an impressive 30. At the other end, three couples — Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr, Melanie Walters and Aljaž Å korjanec, and Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon — all scored just 15.

Celebrity and professional	Week 1 score
John Nellis and Katya Jones	31
Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington	30
Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola	27
Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu	26
Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley	24
Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin	22
Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita	22
Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu	21
Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby	20
Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał	20
Will Best and Dianne Buswell	18
Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden	16
Melanie Walters and Aljaž Škorjanec	15
Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon	15
Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr	15

For context, last year’s winners — Karen Carney and Carlos Gu — opened their winning campaign with 31 points for their jive. Nellis matching that score on his very first dance suggests the judges see real potential in the YouTuber.

Before the live show, the BBC published the full Strictly Come Dancing 2026 week 1 music and dance list, and it was a strong mix: sambas, tangos, cha cha chas and a jive among the opening routines. Will Best and Dianne Buswell’s samba to Robbie Williams’ Rock DJ set the tone for the night, while John Nellis and Katya Jones chose Alex Warren’s chart hit Ordinary for their leaderboard-topping foxtrot. The music choices matter more than you might think — a well-known song can lift a nervous celebrity, while an awkward track can sink even a confident dancer.

The launch show also welcomed back last year’s champions, Karen Carney and Carlos Gu, whose football-kit jive scored 31 on their way to winning the 2025 series. Their return was a reminder of how far a complete beginner can go — a message the class of Strictly Come Dancing 2026, and especially the three couples stuck on 15 points, will be clinging to in the weeks ahead.

The New Hosting Trio: Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe

The biggest talking point of Strictly Come Dancing 2026 is not on the dance floor at all — it is behind the famous staircase. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who fronted the show together for years, both stepped down at the end of the 2025 series.

Their replacements are an unexpected but popular trio. Emma Willis brings years of live television experience from Big Brother and The Voice UK. Comedian Josh Widdicombe adds humour and a self-confessed love of the show. And professional dancer Johannes Radebe — a Strictly favourite who has previously competed as a pro — gives the team genuine dance credibility.

The change of hosts is the biggest presenting shake-up since the show began. Tess Daly had fronted Strictly since its launch in 2004, with Claudia Winkleman joining her as co-host in 2014, so their joint departure at the end of the 2025 series marked the end of an era. The BBC’s choice of a three-host format for Strictly Come Dancing 2026 — pairing Willis’s live-TV experience with Widdicombe’s comedy and Radebe’s dance expertise — suggests the show wants to feel both familiar and fresh.

Early signs are promising. The launch show pulled in a peak audience of 5.8 million viewers, with an average of 5.3 million and a 49.2% share — 200,000 more at its peak than last year’s launch, according to the BBC’s overnight figures. The episode also topped BBC iPlayer’s most-watched chart, suggesting the new line-up has landed well with viewers.

Judges, New Pros and Departures

While the hosts changed, the judging panel did not. Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke are all back, giving the series a sense of continuity at a time of big change elsewhere.

The panel’s stability matters to fans because the scoring is the backbone of the competition. Shirley Ballas, as head judge, has the final say in the dance-off when the panel is split — a power she has used in several memorable series finales. Motsi Mabuse brings a choreographer’s eye, Craig Revel Horwood remains the famously hard-to-please pantomime villain of the panel, and Anton Du Beke — who danced as a professional in every series from the start before joining the judges in 2021 — offers the most sympathetic ear for the nervous newcomers of Strictly Come Dancing 2026.

The professional troupe looks rather different, though. Five new dancers have joined for 2026: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita. They replace Karen Hauer, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, Michelle Tsiakkas and Gorka Marquez, who all departed after last year’s series.

Two of the newcomers are already making waves. Maddie Ingoldsby is partnered with Cach Mercer, and Mark Karmalita is dancing with Olympic champion Tabby Stoecker. Early scores of 20 and 22 respectively suggest both new pros have what it takes to survive the competition.

The BBC has also announced a brand-new Strictly spin-off show to run alongside the main series, as reported by the Gazette & Herald. Full details are still to be confirmed, but it underlines how central the franchise remains to the BBC’s autumn schedule.

How to Watch Strictly Come Dancing 2026 in the UK

Never want to miss a foxtrot? Here is exactly how to follow the rest of the series:

1. Live shows air every Saturday night on BBC One, with the performances judged live by the panel.
2. The results show airs on Sunday nights, when the public vote is revealed and the dance-off decides who stays.
3. Stream everything on BBC iPlayer — live or on catch-up, including the launch show if you missed it.
4. No one leaves in week 1. The first elimination takes place in the results show on Sunday 4 October.
5. The final is on Saturday 19 December, when the winners of the Glitterball Trophy will be crowned.

As ever, the weekly routines are scored out of 40 — ten points per judge — and combined with viewer votes. Once the eliminations begin, the couple with the lowest combined total faces the dance-off each week.

Why This Series Could Be One of the Best Yet

Strictly Come Dancing 2026 has all the ingredients of a classic series. A brand-new presenting team has refreshed the show without breaking what makes it work. The judging panel’s experience gives the scoring credibility. And the cast blends genuine contenders — Nellis, Goodrem and Turner all scored strongly in week 1 — with larger-than-life personalities who will keep the entertainment high even when the technique wobbles.

The early viewing figures back that up. A peak of 5.8 million for the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 launch, up on last year, shows the Great British public’s appetite for sparkle and sequins is undimmed. With the first elimination looming on 4 October and the final set for 19 December, there is a full autumn of Saturday-night drama ahead.

Who do you think will lift the Glitterball Trophy? Keep an eye on the leaderboard each week — and share this guide with your fellow Strictly fans so nobody misses a step of the 2026 series.