Strictly star left "shaking" as surprise dance of the night upends leaderboard

Vicky Pattison and professional partner Kai Widdrington have earned their highest score to date on Strictly Come Dancing 2025, with a blockbuster Tango blowing everything out of the water tonight.

The television personality performed the dance to The Fate of Ophelia by pop superstar Taylor Swift, with Kai telling Claudia Winkleman after the performance that she was perfectly suited to the task.

"I didn't want to tell Vicky this in the week, because I wanted to wait for this moment," he began. "The thing is about Vicky is that she didn't need to get into character for this dance because she is everything that this dance is about.

"Strong, independent, confident, willing, able and, to be honest, Anton was right: to dance that with Vicky felt like dancing with a professional – it was that good."

Indeed, Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke said he was "stunned" by just how good the dance was, while infamously strict Craig Revel Horwood said it was "perfect" besides a minor complaint about the placement of Vicky's left hand.

Motsi Mabuse stood by last week's comment that Pattison is a potential finalist, adding: "Without a doubt, you are on fire. Whatever is giving you that fire, keep it up – this was, for me, the dance of the night."

Shirley Ballas concurred that it was the "best" of tonight's episode, describing Pattison and Widdrington's work as nothing short of "remarkable".

As their glowing praise came in, Strictly presenter Tess Daly commented that Pattison was "shaking", and the reality star's response only became more ecstatic in the Clauditorium.

The four experts certainly put their scoring paddles where their mouth was, awarding the couple three 10s and a 9 (holdout Craig, of course), for a near-perfect score that became the highest of this week's leaderboard.

Pattison and Widdrington narrowly pipped Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin (38), and pushed well ahead of last week's top scorers Lewis Cope and Katya Jones (35).

It puts the couple in a strong position for this week's public vote, which will lead to yet another dance off and elimination – the results of which will be revealed tomorrow night.

Strictly Come Dancing results show airs Sunday at 7:10pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One and iPlayer.

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