Strictly 2025 Week 1: Leaderboard in full revealed as fans peg Karen Carney and George Clarke as potential winners

Hey there and welcome to HELLO!'s live blog of the first live show of Strictly Come Dancing. Last week, we saw the couples paired up and tonight, we'll seem them dance for the first time.

I cannot wait, who do you think is going to do the best, and who might be a dance dis-ah-ster, darling? Let me know your thoughts at matthew.moore@hellomagazine.com!

It managed to be a week of drama, even before we got to the dance floor. On Tuesday, Dani Dyer sadly confirmed that she was pulling out after fracturing her ankle during rehearsals. Thankfully, West End star Amber Davies was drafted in as her replacement, and we'll be seeing her on the floor tonight with dance partner, Nikita Kuzmin.

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Want to know what the celebs will be dancing to on tonight's show? HELLO! has gathered all of the songs and routines for you right here!

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You've still got plenty of time to get your snacks and drinks before settling in for the show. Strictly will be back on our screens tonight at 18:55pm. And with 15 celebs set to dance, we're in for a long night, as the show isn't due to finish until 21:25pm!

This year, we've seen Gorka Marquez, Neil Jones, Nancy Xu, Luba Mushtuk and Michelle Tsiakkas not receive celebrity partners. Several of them have released videos speaking about how they felt, but earlier this year, HELLO! asked a pro dancer what it felt like when you were benched.

See what Carlos Gu, who didn't dance with a partner last year, had to say here...

Dianne Buswell will be making history on this series of Strictly, as the star becomes the first ever pregnant woman to dance on the show. However, one viewer had a negative reaction to seeing Dianne reunite with Chris McCausland last week due to her pregnancy.

See how Dianne handled the criticism here...

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One of the things we hear about every single year is the 'Strictly Curse', where people leave their partners while competing on the show, or find love on the dance floor. If you've ever wondered about those who have been affected by the 'Curse', find out here...

One of the longest-serving pros on the show is Karen Hauer, here's all you need to know about the dancer's life away from the show...

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There's that iconic Strictly theme, and what did you make to those little openers? My favourite has to be Dianne and Stefan's little hops. Though did you catch Dani still in there? That might need an update soon!

I actually really enjoyed that opener of dancing through the decades with the judges. Shirley's passionate samba brought the house down, while Motsi exuded her sensuality in the rumba. But now I'm really in the mood for the celebs to take to the floor!

We've gotten our first glimpse of Amber at the top of the stairs with Nikita. They'll be dancing a waltz later for us, and they look very elegant in their costumes. That said, it's only week 1, but I was hoping for more from the costume department this time. No one massively stands out, but I'm sure they will when they hit the dancefloor.

For years, the corny VTs have been canned, but now Nadiya is on the rugby pitch, are they coming back?

While today will go down in history for the women's rugby team as they won the world cup, the same can't be said for Chris' samba... I'm no dance expert, but he was quite stiff during the routine and I can't say it went well at all. We wish Chris well, but this wasn't his dance...

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You know it's not good when Motsi is focusing on the "work ethic". Shirley also noted "timing issues" during the routine, but she gave a lot of constructive feedback. Craig didn't hold back, saying it lacked "fluidity, the bounce, the hip action" and called it "disconnected". Ouch!

It wasn't a great set of scores either. The pair got 14 overall, earning 3s from Craig and Shirley and 4s from Motsi and Anton.

Neil Jones, who isn't dancing with a celeb this year, was on hand to share the voting information, revealing that it has changed. HELLO! has all the details here...

As Alex brought her dog into training, Johannes revealed her prefered cats. Honestly, same.

As a massive Johannes and Alex fan, perhaps I'm biased, but might that be the dance of the night? The drama, a sultry Viennese waltz. What more did we need? And Bond, look no further, Alex is a Bond Girl in the making there!

Shirley loved the dance, and gave some helpful advice to Alex, especially with the star's hand placement. Anton enjoyed the dance, but criticised the amount of time the dance was performed out of hold, but given it's Week 1, he gave the pair that moment for "free". Craig, however, criticised the rise and fall, and even called it "lumpy"!

There was shock with Alex's love score of 21! Craig only gave the routine a four, while Shirley opted for a five. Motsi and Anton both awarded it a six.

WOW! Harry can dance, the athlete showed off all of his best moves in that cha-cha, and it brought the house down! He even managed to do press ups with Karen on his back, I can barely do a press up on my own!

The star got emotional following the routine as he had an injury last year that left unable to show off his athletic prowress. But after this, he's the one to beat!

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Although we loved the push ups, Craig said they didn't "belong" in the cha cha cha, well, we disagree. Motsi loved it, but urged Harry to "clean" his performance up. Shirley said she'd never seen a cha-cha-cha like that!

This picture will go down in Strictly history!

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It's still a low-scoring opening show, Harry only recieved 19 from the judges, three fives from Motsi, Shirley and Anton and a four from Craig. Boo!

Of course Stefan and Dianne's first dance would be to the Neighbours theme song. Not my favourite so far, but Stefan had good fun and it was quite cutesey.

Stefan indicated there was an issue with the dance, but Anton still called it a "brilliant effort", although Craig quickly picked out how the dance was "littered with mistakes". Motsi meanwhile hinted that we have a "ballroom king" on the way. Do you agree with that?

Stefan and Dianne are now the top of the leaderboard as they received a score of 22. A four from Craig and three sixes from the rest.

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A runway fit for a queen! Ellie Goldstein and Vito brought sass and moves with their cha-cha-cha. It was impossible not to have a smile on your face watching that. I bet even Craig had something!

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Motsi said Ellie's dance lifted her mood, but advised the model to keep her feet on the floor to get "stronger". Shirley noted there was no timing issues during the dance, but loved Ellie's "body rhythm", before presenting her with a fan. Anton called the star the "joy" of the series.

That was worth more than a 17 in my view, it's a very low-scoring opening show. Ellie got three fours from Craig, Motsi and Shirley, while Anton gave a five for the performance.