Louis Smith triumphs in Strictly Come Dancing special
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Version 0 of 1. Olympic gymnast Louis Smith has won the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, in which Sir Bruce Forsyth returned to the ballroom. The 25-year-old competed against fellow contestants from previous series – Rachel Stevens, Lisa Riley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Chris Hollins and Russell Grant – in the TV special. Smith, who partnered professional Aliona Vilani, was crowned King of the Christmas Ballroom after earning a perfect score of 40 points for a quickstep to Jingle Bells, which was combined with the vote from the studio audience. Forsyth, who bowed out as the regular weekly host of Strictly this year, returned to present the show with Tess Daly and sing a version of Winter Wonderland, accompanied by professional dancers. The Christmas special featured the judges in pantomime costume, with Bruno Tonioli as Buttons, acid-tongued Craig Revel Horwood as the Evil Queen, Darcey Bussell as the Fairy Godmother and head judge Len Goodman as Cinderella’s father Baron Hardup. Contestants took on the roles of pantomime characters, with singer Ellis-Bextor as Sleeping Beauty, actor Riley as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz, S Club 7’s Stevens as Tinkerbell, Smith as Jack from Jack And The Beanstalk, TV presenter Hollins as Dick Whittington and astrologer Grant as the genie from Aladdin. Smith said: “It’s a nice present, I am not going to lie! We’ve had such a fun time although the first week of rehearsals was hard. But since then we have just been chilling out, laughing and giggling, messing around on the dance floor, it’s been really good fun.” The couples also performed a group number to All I Want For Christmas Is You, while the show ended with a pantomime finale featuring professional dancer Natalie Lowe as Cinderella. |