Strictly Come Dancing announces major new twist that Shirley Ballas says will "change everything"

Strictly Come Dancing has announced a brand new dance challenge taking place later this month, which will put the celebrities through their paces even more.

Overseen by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, Instant Dance will challenge each remaining couple to pick a dance style at random from ones they have learnt in the competition so far.

They will then be played their accompanying music and, after a quick wardrobe change, each couple will have 10 seconds on the clock to decide exactly how they're going to dance it.

After the couples have danced, the Strictly judges will rank them and award their extra marks accordingly. A maximum of six marks will then be awarded to the couple whose performance impressed them to most, down to one point for the couple who impressed them the least.

Head judge Shirley Ballas has teased that this new challenge "has the power to change everything for our couples".

She said: "With standards so incredibly high this year and the competition so close, there's a lot resting on it. The dance styles, costumes and music might not be revealed until the night, but what we can be sure of right now is that it's going to be a whole lot of fun. I cannot wait!"

The Instant Dance challenge will take place towards the end of Strictly's Saturday 29th November live show, once all six remaining couples have performed as usual.

This week, seven couples will be headed to Blackpool to perform in the iconic ballroom.

Among the couples who remain are Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe, Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon, George Clarke and Alexis Warr, Karen Carney and Carlos Gu, La Voix and Aljaž Škorjanec, Lewis Cope and Katya Jones and Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.

All of whom have proved week in and week out their deserving place in the competition. Blackpool will be a treat!

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 21st November at 6:35pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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