Strictly 2025 Week 2 RECAP: Full leaderboard revealed – with surprising contestant at the top

This is the most positive feedback I think Craig has given all night! He called it gorgeous, Motsi called it a brilliant "comeback", Shirley was shocked and called it "outstanding", and Anton said she's basically like a "different woman" on the dancefloor. Let's see what the numbers say!

Balvinder was left completely speechless, and Julian said that she "shines under pressure" – have we got an underdog on our hands? With 7, 8, 8, 7, she's tied with George! That will certainly help them secure their place on the show with this week's elimination.

That leaves us with the leaderboard of:

Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe – 31
Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon – 30
George Clarke and Alexis Warr – 30
Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin – 29
Lewis Cope and Katya Jones – 27
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer – 26
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley – 25
Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington – 24
Ellie Goldstein and Vito Coppola – 23
Karen Carney and Carlos Gu – 20
La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec – 19
Stefan Dennis and Dianne Buswell – 17
Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova – 16
Ross King and Jowita Przystal – 15
Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden – 13

We'll have to see who gets put up for elimination next week!

Combined with last week's score, it's a bit of a different picture – I think we really need to talk about Alex's samba again, because THAT was an improvement! The same definitely goes for Balvinder, who really wrapped things up with a bang. Here's the leaderboards from weeks one and two combined:

Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin – 56
Lewis Cope and Katya Jones – 55
George Clarke and Alexis Warr – 54
Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe – 52
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley – 52
Karen Carney and Carlos Gu – 51
Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington – 47
Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon – 47
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer – 45
La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec – 43
Ellie Goldstein and Vito Coppola – 40
Stefan Dennis and Dianne Buswell – 39
Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova – 30
Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden – 29
Ross King and Jowita Przystał – 25

I think that the bottom four is a really unfortunate place to be – honestly, any of them could end up being eliminated tomorrow, who can tell?

Unfortunately, I can't make quite as much of a closing statement as Bal, but a huge thanks to everyone who's been following these live updates tonight. I'm still screaming about George and Vicky being underscored... but I'll get over it. Have a fabulous evening, everyone, and let's see what happens tomorrow!