Vic’s Inhaler

Oct 10, 2025 by Rob

So that’s two great weeks in a row for George, he has built up all the crucial early series momentum, and he’s shortened further as favourite, into 2.6 on Betfair. Is he a steering job from this point on?

We know Strictly heavily favours a male winner and following George’s paso, head judge Shirley went as far as saying, ‘Could we potentially be looking at the front runner here?’

It’s very early in the series run for her to be making bold statements like that and it could be a case of too much, too soon. Especially put in the context of Craig’s follow up comment, ‘Lewis better watch his back.’

It looks like TPTB are teeing up a series-long rivalry between George and Lewis which should have its logical conclusion in this year’s final. Two popular males could also cannibalise one another, and the show might be hoping a third party enters the fray in the guise of a female journey contestant.

George has had two later running orders, and two favourable dances for impact in AS and paso; Lewis has had two early running orders and two nitpickingly harsh appraisals.

Now, George has been granted the first Couple’s Choice of the series, a genre historically to receive high praise and high scores, dancing to the huge viral sensation ‘Soda Pop’ from K-Pop Demon Hunters. It all looks very Gen-Z which is George’s lane.

Both George and Lewis could come under consideration for the pimp, with Lewis performing what should be a highly dramatic paso. Lewis and Katya have been put on a path of reining in the showboating content and applying a less is more approach. They look sure to nail some great routines down the line and that may start tomorrow night.

If it turns out to be George who’s last to perform, it will begin to look like a coronation. Sometimes, a perceived Plan A looks too glaringly obvious to be considered the real Plan A but there’s also such a thing called Occam’s razor.

Another market shortener and now second favourite is Vicky who earned the Shirley comment, ‘We’re on the beginning of a journey’ after her promising foxtrot. She ended up mid-table which is arguably the best place to be at this early stage of the competition.

Judges’ leaderboard week 1/2:

Amber & Nikita – waltz (14) – 7, 7, 7, 6 = 27 – samba (10) – 8, 7, 7, 7 = 29 = 56
Lewis & Katya – Jive (6) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28 – VW (4) – 7, 7, 6, 7 = 27 = 55
George & Alexis – American Smooth – (8) – 6, 6, 6, 6 = 24 – paso (14) – 7, 7, 8, 8 = 30 = 54
Jimmy & Lauren – Quickstep (10) – 6, 7, 7, 7 = 27 – CCC (3) – 6, 6, 6, 7 = 25 = 52
Alex & Johannes – VW (2) – 4, 6, 5, 6 = 21 – samba (5) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31 = 52
Karen & Carlos – Jive (15) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31 – tango (2) – 4, 5, 5, 6 = 20 = 51
Vicky & Kai – CCC (9) – 5, 6, 6, 6 = 23 – foxtrot (11) – 6, 6, 6, 6 = 24 = 47
Balvinder & Julian – Samba (11) – 4, 4, 4, 5 = 17 – Charleston (15) – 7, 8, 8, 7 = 30 = 47
Harry & Karen – CCC (3) – 4, 5, 5, 5 = 19 – QS (8) – 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26 = 45
La Voix & Aljaz – AS (12) – 6, 6, 6, 6 = 24 – jive (1) – 4, 5, 5, 5 = 19 = 43
Ellie & Vito – CCC (5) – 4, 4, 4, 5 = 17 – waltz (6) – 5, 6, 6, 6 = 23 = 40
Stefan & Dianne – Foxtrot (4) – 4, 6, 6, 6 = 22 – CCC (13) – 4, 4, 4, 5 = 17 = 39
Chris & Nadiya – Samba (1) – 3, 4, 3, 4 = 14 – VW (12) – 3, 4, 4, 5 = 16 = 30 – bottom 2
Thomas & Amy – Paso Doble (13) – 2, 4, 5, 5 = 16 – salsa (7) – 2, 3, 4, 4 = 13 = 29 – eliminated
Ross & Jowita – CCC – (7) – 2, 3, 2, 3 = 10 – waltz (9) – 2, 4, 4, 5 = 15 = 25

A Charleston to that The Great Gatsby track could have all the required ingredients for a fun and entertaining, high impact number, though her and Kai have been struggling with cold bugs this week.

There are signs the show is also looking in the direction of Alex for a potential journey. Her samba earned the week 2 top score of 31 which did look generous, especially in the context of Amber’s samba being scored two points less. A QS to ’Suddenly I See’ looks the sort of thing to keep Alex on an upward trajectory.

After her triumphant week 1 jive, Karen endured a big come down, 11pts to be precise, with her tango, her posture issues due to a curved spine highlighted in her VT and coming under the microscope with the judges. The topline demanded of the traditional ballroom dances looks like being a series-long issue.

Tomorrow night sees a return to fast Latin for her with CCC, and while fast Latin appears to be her stronger suit, this routine looks unlikely to impress as much as her week 1 jive.

Amber will no doubt shine with the AS but it’s proving hard for her to seduce the Winner market, with her odds having now drifted out to 18.5, highlighting the difficulty ringer-type female contestants have persuading gamblers they have a chance of winning Strictly.

The rest of the field has been largely written off. Balvinder enjoyed the pimp slot with her Charleston and despite a score of 30, her price has disappeared into the abyss.

Jimmy can certainly entertain and is very easy to warm to. He looks like having a feel-good journey on the male side of the competition and one that could potentially outlast Harry who has a Lion King-themed salsa to try and tame tomorrow night. Usually considered the dance of death, rumba will be an interesting test for Jimmy.

The second elimination is considered a straight shoot-out between Ross and Chris. Ross has paso to the Thunderbirds theme and this could allow Jowita to create some choreo magic.

Chris also has a paso in which he will presumably be outfitted as Thor. With Lewis likely withheld until show end, it could be a case of whichever of Ross or Chris’s pasos appears earlier in the running order proving most vulnerable of 2nd elimination.

It was noticeable, however, how high Ross and Chris were on our week 1/2 exit poll and with that in mind the show could probably very easily instigate a ’shock’ second elimination.

Early in the r.o. and an underwhelming, forgettable routine could put a good few others in danger of a dance-off appearance, but pre-show Ross looks most likely to face the chop, and won’t be making anyone rich at the skinny odds of 5-4.

Please do let us know who got your vote(s) when our week 3 exit poll opens towards the end of tomorrow night’s show:

Strictly 2025 Exit Poll – Week 3

Week 3 – Movie Week – dances & songs:

Alex & Johannes – Quickstep to Suddenly I See from The Devil Wears Prada
Amber & Nikita – American Smooth to Sixteen Going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music
Balvinder & Julian – Foxtrot to The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time
Chris & Nadiya – Paso Doble to Sweet Child O’Mine from Thor
Ellie & Vito – Samba to Dance the Night from Barbie
George & Alexis – Couple’s Choice to Soda Pop from K-Pop Demon Hunters
Harry & Karen – Salsa to I Always Wanted a Brother from Mufasa: The Lion King
Jimmy & Lauren – Rumba to No Time to Die from No Time to Die
Karen & Carlos – Cha-Cha-Cha to She’s a Lady from Miss Congeniality
La Voix & Aljaz – Waltz to Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) from Mary Poppins
Lewis & Katya – Paso Doble to The Plaza of Execution from The Mask of Zorro
Ross & Jowita – Paso Doble to Thunderbirds Theme from Thunderbirds
Stefan & Dianne – Waltz to It is You (I Have Loved) from Shrek
Vicky & Kai – Charleston to A Little Party Never Killed Nobody from The Great Gatsby