It’s Blackpool Week this week and, having missed this extravaganza for the last two years, we decided to check the stats to see if dancing at the iconic Tower Ballroom results in higher scores than for the same dances performed at the same stage in the competition back in the studio. It’s always a stunning spectacle of a show but do couples bring their best to Blackpool?

The data: There have been 14 shows at Blackpool including 2 Finals (Series 2, 2004 and Series 9, 2011 – the latter split into 2 shows), however because we need to compare scores of dances performed at a similar stage in the competition we are only including the 10 shows performed at Blackpool in Week 8 or 9 of the competition. This includes 1 Final from Week 8 of Series 2. A total of 82 dances were performed in these 10 shows but 3 Showdances were not scored (Series 2), so there are 79 scores for Blackpool dances.

We need to compare these to Week 8 or 9 dances NOT performed at Blackpool – comprising 107 dances from 7 series (Series 3-6, 10, 18 and 19). The non-Blackpool dances also include 1 Final from Series 18 (Week 9, 2020). A total of 120 dances were performed in these 14 shows but Showdances (4) and Waltzes (9) are omitted from the comparison as there is no Week 8 or 9 Blackpool data for these dances to compare to.

Dances Overall

Our infographic shows that Week 8 and 9 Blackpool dances have an average score of 33.2, which is 2 points higher than the average of dances performed in the studio in those weeks (31.2). Of the 14 regular dances compared here, 10 have an average higher score at Blackpool. So Blackpool really does give a bit of a boost to most dance scores – but the degree of improvement varies across dances and 4 score on average lower there (Cha Cha Cha, Couple’s Choice, Rumba and Tango).

Its notable that all the ballroom dances except Tango have improved Week 8 and 9 scores at Blackpool – maybe something about the setting, atmosphere and additional dancers helps elevate these performances compared to the studio (or maybe it’s the sprung floor). Interestingly there has only been one Cha Cha Cha at Blackpool despite it being the most performed dance on Strictly (221 performances), possibly because Craig and Flavia only managed a score of 17 when they danced it there in Series 7. Similarly the classic ballroom Waltz has never made an appearance at the Blackpool shows, perhaps being too slow a dance for such a venue with the faster Viennese Waltz being preferred.

The dances that see the greatest score improvement from a Tower Ballroom performance are: Jive (5.4 average point improvement), Charleston (4.1 average point improvement), Foxtrot (3.7 average point improvement), Quickstep (3.3 average point improvement) and Paso Doble (3.1 average score improvement). This may be welcome news to Molly & Carlos (who dance a Jive on Saturday), Kym and Graziano (who have a Paso) and Helen and Gorka (who’ll perform a Quickstep) but whatever dance they’ve drawn in the Strictly lottery we wish all the couples the very best of luck in this extra special ballroom battle.

Dance By Dance

American Smooth

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 13, Average Score 33.5
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 12, Average Score 32
• Blackpool Boost: +1.5 points
• The most performed Blackpool dance (Weeks 8 & 9)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  38 awarded to Georgia & Giovanni (Series 13) and Gemma & Aljaž (Series 15)

Argentine Tango

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 2, Average Score 31.5
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 3, Average Score 29.3
• Blackpool Boost: +2.3 points
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  38 awarded to Simon & Kristina (Series 12)

Cha Cha Cha

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 1, Score 17 awarded to Craig & Flavia (Series 7)
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 6, Average Score 29.5
• No Blackpool Boost: -12.5 points

Charleston

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 6, Average Score 36.2
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 7, Average Score 32.1
• Blackpool Boost: +4.1 points (2nd highest)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  40 awarded to Danny & Oti (Series 14)
• 1 of 4 perfect scores awarded to Week 8/9 Blackpool dances

Couple’s Choice

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 2, Average Score 32
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 6, Average Score 33
• No Blackpool Boost: -1 point
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  32 awarded to Graeme & Oti (Series 16) and Michelle & Giovanni (Series 17)

Foxtrot

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 2, Average Score 34
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 3, Average Score 30.3
• Blackpool Boost: +3.7 points (3rd highest)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  34 awarded to Jill & Darren (Series 2) and Chris & Ola (Series 7)

Jill & Darren (Series 2, Week 8 Final): Foxtrot (No video found – 😢 – can you help us?)

Jive

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 9, Average Score 34
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 8, Average Score 28.6
• Blackpool Boost: +5.4 points (Highest)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  40 awarded to Jill & Darren (Series 2) and to Ashley & Pasha (Series 16)
• 2 and 3 of 4 perfect scores awarded to Week 8/9 Blackpool dances

Jill & Darren (Series 2, Week 8 Final): Jive (No video found – 😢 – can you help us?)

Paso Doble

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 10, Average Score 34.9
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 5, Average Score 31.8
• Blackpool Boost: +3.1 points (5th highest)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  39 awarded to Susanna & Kevin (Series 11)

Quickstep

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 12, Average Score 34.8
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 11, Average Score 31.5
• Blackpool Boost: +3.3 points (4th highest)
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  39 awarded to Alexandra & Gorka (Series 13)

Rumba

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 1, Score 28 awarded to Phil & Katya (Series 7)
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 10, Average Score 28.9
• No Blackpool Boost: -0.9 points

Salsa

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 6, Average Score 32.3
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 6, Average Score 30.8
• Blackpool Boost: +1.5 points
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  36 awarded to Jay & Aliona (Series 13)

Samba

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 10, Average Score 30.3
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 14, Average Score 29.7
• Blackpool Boost: +0.6 points
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  38 awarded to Matt & Aliona (Series 8) and Charles & Karen (Series 16)

Tango

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 2, Average Score 30.5
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 6, Average Score 32
• No Blackpool Boost: -1.5 points
• The only ballroom dance not to score higher at Blackpool
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  35 awarded to Ricky & Natalie (Series 7)

Viennese Waltz

• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances at Blackpool: 3, Average Score 34
• Weeks 8 & 9 Appearances in Studio: 10, Average Score 33.2
• Blackpool Boost: +0.8 points
• 4 of 4 perfect scores awarded to Week 8/9 Blackpool dances
• Highest Blackpool Score:
  40 awarded to Ali & Brian (Series 7)

Photo credit: Richard Heyes – Blackpool Tower