Strictly 2026: Who topped the leaderboard in the latest live show?


Australian singer Delta Goodrem scored the first 10 of the 2026 series of Strictly Come Dancing on her return to the show from injury.
But Winter Olympic champion Tabby Stoecker followed her on Saturday’s episode of the BBC dancing show by scoring two 10s for her couple’s choice dance to Stupid Song by Olivia Rodrigo, finishing with a total score of 37, the highest of the series so far.
Goodrem, 41, scored 34 for her rumba to Celine Dion’s It’s All Coming Back To Me Now with professional partner Kai Widdrington, placing her second after she missed last week’s icons special after suffering a fractured rib.

Stoecker’s leaderboard-topping performance with professional partner Mark Karmalita was dedicated to her late father, and she appeared emotional after the dance, with judge Shirley Ballas praising her as a “beautiful dancer” and calling the performance “absolutely exquisite”.
Before giving Goodrem the series’ first 10, judge Anton Du Beke told the singer: “I have to tell you this, this is as good as I’ve (seen), this is my favourite dance of the series by a million miles.
“And I’ve got some advice for you, going forward I would continue to have a rib injury.”
Fellow judge Motsi Mabuse added “I missed you” and praised the dance as “one of the best rumbas I’ve seen on this show”.
After the dance, Goodrem said: “It was a tough week this week, and it’s been sort of waves and sort of working through the process, but when you know you have a time frame, where you just have to keep getting up step by step, I think that was a positive mindset…
“I’m thrilled we could get through it today and onwards and upwards.”
Social media star John Nellis and his professional partner Katya Jones placed third at the end of the show, scoring 32 for their quickstep to McFly’s Five Colours In Her Hair, which Ballas said she was “very pleased” with, and judge Craig Revel Horwood said was “clean”.
In the bottom two were Emmerdale star Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystal, who scored 19 for their jive to a mash-up of Fatboy Slim’s The Rockafeller Skank and The Knack’s My Sharona, and former England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr, who scored 17.
Wright-Phillips was watched by his father, former Arsenal star and football pundit Ian Wright, as he performed the jive to Faith by Stevie Wonder featuring Ariana Grande, which Revel Horwood branded “a disaster”.
After Robb and Przystal’s dance, Revel Horwood said: “It wasn’t for me, flat-footed and out of time, feet turned in, no retraction or slip, not your best.”
Three couples scored 31: TV dog trainer Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley, Big Brother presenter Will Best and his partner Dianne Buswell, and former Love Island winner Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin.
Dyer and Kuzmin’s high score for their performance to Despecha by Rosalia came after the couple placed in the bottom two last week, with Du Beke praising their dance as “magnificent” and “brilliantly done”, although Revel Horwood said they “could’ve sold it more”.
EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and her professional partner Vito Coppola performed the tango to Blondie’s Atomic, initially appearing to have scored 29 due to an issue with the BBC’s graphic, but were eventually revealed to have scored 28.
Elsewhere, actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu scored 25 for their foxtrot to Olivia Dean’s Man I Need, and fellow actress Bethany Antonia and her partner Nancy Xu scored 25 for their Argentine tango to a cover of All The Things She Said by Harrison.
Former Love Island star Cach Mercer and his professional partner Maddie Ingoldsby scored 24 for their cha cha to Maneskin’s cover of Beggin’ by The Four Seasons.

At the start of the show, presenters Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe welcomed Goodrem back to the show.
Radebe said: “I have to say a very warm welcome back to Delta and Kai, we’re so happy to have you back in the ballroom my darling.”
