Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Ellie Harrison

Strictly Come Dancing crowns its Christmas champions

Strictly Come Dancing has crowned the winners of its Christmas special.

The show’s first drag artist, Tayce, has been crowned the champion of this year’s show, alongside her professional dance partner, Kai Widdrington.

They wowed the judges with their Cha-Cha to Kylie and Dannii Minogue’s “100 Degrees”, before being presented with the shiny Christmas star-shaped trophy.

Tayce and Widdrington earned a perfect score for their performance with four 10s from the judges.

The champions followed in the footsteps of last year’s winner, EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick, who took home the trophy alongside professional dancer, Nancy Xu.

Borthwick impressed producers so much that he was invited back to compete in the full 2024 series that ended earlier this month. He was the ninth person to be evicted from this year’s show, which was won by comedian Chris McCausland – the series’ first ever blind contestant.

The five other pairs Tayce and Widdrington competed against in the special were Josh Widdicombe and Karen Hauer, Vogue Williams and Gorka Márquez, Tamzin Outhwaite and Nikita Kuzmin, Billy Monger and Nadiya Bychkova and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Nancy Xu.

Tayce and Kai Widdrington (BBC/Guy Levy)

This year’s festive special was hosted once again by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, with judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas on the panel.

Strictly’s Christmas special opened with a group routine to “I Love Christmas” from Scrooge, and the closing number was to “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” by Leona Lewis.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.