BBC Strictly Come Dancing announces major return to ballroom after six years

Strictly Come Dancing has announced news of a major return to the competition later this month. We're now more than halfway through the 2024 run of the BBC One dance contest with the annual Blackpool special now in sight.

And following the first-ever 'Icons Week' last weekend, in which the remaining couples performed to a song from a legendary singer or band, Strictly has revealed it's still going all out for its 20th anniversay series with the return of the much-loved Dance-A-Thon.

The Dance-A-Thon was a small additional group routine challenge, where all the remaining couples danced a routine simultaneously on the ballroom floor to get extra points from the judges.

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The challenge originated during series seven of Strictly in 2009 and whilst the formatting remained the same each series that followed, the dance style changed. The dance challenge was last performed during series 16 in 2018 but now it's set to return in a matter of weeks.

As exclusively revealed on Strictly: It Takes Two on Wednesday evening (November 6), on Saturday November 23, the remaining Strictly couples will take to the Ballroom floor together to impress the judges with their best Samba moves in this series Samba-Thon.

The Dance-A-Thon format is a staple of Ballroom and Latin dance competitions around the world and its timely return for this special 20th anniversary series is a nod towards the world of professional Ballroom and Latin dancing.

But how does it work? after all of the couples have performed their main dance in the show, they’ll shimmy back on to the ballroom floor to Samba as a group before the judges eliminate couples one by one, until the winner is crowned. The couples will need to quickly impress the judges as their final position in the Samba-Thon will have an impact on the overall score for the night.

The first couple to be eliminated in the Samba-Thon will be awarded one point, with the second couple eliminated earning two points and so on, through to the winner who will have seven points added to their leaderboard position which is made up of the judges scores from their main dance in the show that evening. This means that the Samba-Thon could have a real impact on who stays and who leaves the competition.

The contestants taking part in the Samba-Thon will be revealed in next weekend's results show on Sunday, November 17, from the Blackpool Tower on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The Samba-Thon will then feature in the show the following Saturday when it returns to BBC One and iPlayer.