To celebrate 20 years of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC dancing competition has launched a brand new theme: Icons Week.
It’s a pretty special occasion given that Strictly has kept its themes limited to Halloween Week and Musicals Week throughout its two-decade-long history.
Icons Week will see couples dance to music by stars who have defined musical history, such as Whitney Houston, Shirley Bassey and Queen.
The BBC has already teased that the professional dancers will be performing a Beyoncé medley, featuring Johannes Radebe channelling his inner Sasha Fierce.
Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas, who were at the top of the leaderboard last week, will dance a Samba to “Faith” by George Michael, while Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec, who were joint top of the leaderboard with Borthwick, will perform a Couple’s Choice to “What About Us” by P!nk.
Meanwhile, Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell will dance a Tango to “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS and Gladiators star Montell Douglas and Radebe will perform a Waltz to “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston.
Amy Dowden won’t feature in Saturday night’s show after falling ill backstage during filming last week. Fellow pro dancer Lauren Oakley will instead dance with Dowden’s partner, JLS star JB Gill, performing a pre-planned Couple’s Choice to a Bruno Mars Medley.
This week’s show will be without Dr Punam Krishan, who was eliminated last week alongside her pro partner Gorka Márquez, in a tense dance-off opposite Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu. Krishan’s exit follows the departure of footballer Paul Merson, who departed two weeks ago, as well as Toyah Willcox, Nick Knowles and Tom Dean, who all left the competition in its earlier stages.
Find the full list of songs and dances for Icons Week below:
Chris McCausland and Dianne will dance a Tango to “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS
Jamie Borthwick and Michelle will dance a Samba to “Faith” by George Michael
JB Gill and Amy Dowden’s stand-in Lauren will dance a Couple’s Choice to a Bruno Mars Medley
Montell Douglas and Johannes will dance a Waltz to “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
Pete Wicks and Jowita will dance a Salsa to “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen
Sam Quek and Nikita will dance a American Smooth to “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift
Sarah Hadland and Vito will dance a Cha Cha to “Like a Prayer” by Madonna
Shayne Ward and Nancy will dance a Quickstep to “Help!” by The Beatles
Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz will dance a Couple’s Choice to “What About Us” by P!nk
Wynne Evans and Katya will dance a Rumba to “This Is My Life” by Shirley Bassey
