Strictly Come Dancing series 18
Established ballroom dancing competition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Strictly Come Dancing returned for its eighteenth series with a launch show on 17 October 2020 on BBC One, and the live shows beginning on 24 October.[1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series launched a month later than usual and ran for only nine weeks instead of the usual thirteen.[2][3][4] Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Zoe Ball and Rylan Clark-Neal returned to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.[5] Clark-Neal was replaced by Gethin Jones for four shows after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Strictly Come Dancing | |
---|---|
Series 18 | |
Presented by | Tess Daly Claudia Winkleman |
Judges | Shirley Ballas Motsi Mabuse Craig Revel Horwood |
Celebrity winner | Bill Bailey |
Professional winner | Oti Mabuse |
No. of episodes | 17 |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Original release | 17 October (2020-10-17) (Launch) 24 October 2020 (2020-10-24) – 19 December 2020 (2020-12-19) (Live shows) |
Series chronology | |
On 12 September, it was announced that for the first time since the tenth series, there would be no live show broadcast from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom due to the pandemic.[6] However, it was announced shortly afterwards that there would be four episodes highlighting the best moments from previous series.[7] The final episode featured a tribute to 2014 winner Caroline Flack, who had died on 15 February that year.[8]
Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, and Motsi Mabuse returned to the judging panel.[9] On 21 August 2020, it was announced that Bruno Tonioli could not be part of the judging panel for this series due to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and his role on Dancing with the Stars. Tonioli instead appeared virtually to give his critiques on the performances during the Sunday night results show. Motsi Mabuse had to miss weeks 4 and 5 in accordance with British government guidelines after travelling to Germany due to a break-in at her dance academy;[10][11] she was replaced by Anton Du Beke.[12][13]
Bill Bailey and Oti Mabuse were announced as the winners on 19 December,[14] while HRVY and Janette Manrara, Jamie Laing and Karen Hauer, and Maisie Smith and Gorka Márquez were the runners-up.