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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Casey Cooper-Fiske

Karen Carney becomes first footballer to top Strictly leaderboard for 18 years

Former footballer Karen Carney has topped the leaderboard in Strictly’s first live episode of 2025 (Guy Levy/BBC/PA) -

Former Lionesses midfielder Karen Carney has become the first footballer to top the Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard for 18 years.

The 38-year-old and her professional partner Carlos Gu scored 31 for their jive to Blondie’s One Way Or Another during Saturday’s first live show of the 2025 series of the BBC dancing programme.

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