In anticipation of the Series 20 Final tonight, we decided to look back at the data for the previous 19 series winners and compare the glitterball champions on a number of different dance dimensions including average series score, average score awarded in the Final, range between lowest and highest scores, number of perfect scores obtained as well as total 10s awarded to each.

The result is our Strictly Come Dancing All Champions Leaderboard below. The only question remaining is which celebrity will be added to this hall of fame tonight – Fleur, Hamza, Helen or Molly?

Big thank you to fellow “Strictly Statistician” James (Instagram: @drross365) for contributing some statistics to this StrictlyDB Blog.

The data

All scores for regular weekly dances by the past 19 winners which were judged by either 3, 4 or 5 judges have been included here but other dances not scored in this format such as group elimination dances have not. The number of such dances performed by each winner varies depending on the Series (ranging from 12 to 19) as does the number of scored dances performed in the Final (during Series 2-6, for example, Showdances were not scored by the judges); all average scores allow for this.

Note: Where scores out of 30 and 50 were awarded either in a complete series (Series 18) or in particular shows (Series 7 Weeks 12-14, Series 12 Week 3 and Series 15 Week 5), to calculate comparable averages for both average series score and average Final score, the actual score awarded has been converted into an equivalent score out of 40 to make comparisons possible. This is denoted by an asterisk (*) in the Leaderboard below.

The Leaderboard

All columns can be sorted by clicking on the column headings. This table is best viewed on a PC or tablet.

The Results

Lowest Score

The lowest score for a Champion is held by Bill & Oti for their Week 1 Cha Cha Cha, however because Series 18 was judged by 3-person panel this is actually the equivalent of 20 out of 40 and so it is really Darren and Lilia’s Cha Cha Cha in Week 1 of Series 3 that is the lowest score awarded to a celeb who went on to win. Perhaps it’s not too surprising that both these lowest scores were for Cha Chas, a tricky dance to score highly with particularly in Week 1 of a Series.

Darren and Lilia are also the couple with the lowest high score (36) who went on to win.

Highest Score

This category allows us to see which 7 couples have been crowned Champions without ever securing a perfect score on their route to the top. 5 of these 7 couples participated in the first eight series of the show highlighting possibly the harsher scoring of earlier competitions (or the higher standards of more recent years). Alesha and Matthew are perhaps a surprising inclusion on this list, not least because they actually hold the Champions’ record for highest average score during a series (see below) and she also has the highest low score of all winners, never scoring below a 31! Obviously she was a consistently high-performing dancer but the perfect score eluded her.

Chris and Ola top this category due to the fact that 5 judges adjudicated the last 3 weeks of Series 7 with Darcey joining as an extra judge. Their Final Charleston is one of only 3 dances in Strictly history to be awarded 50 out of 50 and shows how an outstanding routine can influence results. Finally, Bill & Oti are again an anomaly here as their 30/30 is actually a perfect score (and not a low high score)

Score Range

The difference between a winner’s highest score and lowest score shows us something about their improvement – the dance journey they’ve been on. Chris & Ola top this category with a 28-point improvement but again this is due to the anomaly of a 5-judge panel and if we adjust scores this reduces to 18 points. That said, there’s little doubt that Chris enjoyed winning public support because he was so improved (helped by a knockout Charleston performance in the Final).

Stacey & Kevin have the next greatest range with 19 points again reflecting significant improvement; however, it is Rose & Giovanni’s progress that is perhaps most striking here. Their score range of 18 points is the 2nd highest (along with Joe & Katya) but not only did Rose go on to win she also managed to score 30 tens on her way to the finishing line, the highest of any winner to date (but not interestingly the highest ever – for more on this see 10s Awarded below).

Perfect Scores

You can definitely win without achieving a perfect score as 7 couples have proved to date, which is good news for 3 of our 4 Finalists this year (though I suspect by the end of the Final they may all have reached this goal). Caroline & Pasha and Rose & Giovanni top the leaderboard here, each with 4 perfect scores of 40; however it’s worth pointing out that this is not the Strictly record. That accolade is held by Ashley Roberts, who danced with Pasha during Series 16 and finished as runner-up to Stacey; she has 5 perfect scores for 5 different dances, the highest number in Strictly history.

10s Awarded

Our infographic here represents this data visually and highlights Rose as the clear winner in this category with 30 tens received. Notably, no champion has ever won without receiving at least one 10 but it is clear that these top scores were very much less frequent in the early series of the show (Series 1, 2 and 3 winners hold the least 10s).

There are 3 female celebrities who scored more tens than Rose: in Series 16 (a bumper series in terms of ten paddles), Faye scored 31 tens with Giovanni whilst Ashley & Pasha did one better with 32. This makes Ashley a two-time Strictly record holder (most perfect scores, most 10s) – although she shares this second title with Alexandra who, with Gorka, also received 32 tens in Series 15. It is interesting that the female celebrities are out on top here (the highest number of 10s for a male celebrity is held by Karim with 29).

The next chart – which shows 10s awarded so far in the current series – illustrates clearly that Rose’s record for the winner with the most 10s is safe for another year at least. Hamza has the most 10s in the current series, with 17 awarded to date; even if he has the optimum scoring results tonight (possible but unlikely) and achieves 12 tens (the most possible from a 3-dance Final) his total will be 29, placing him second in this category behind Rose.

Average Scores

This chart shows Alesha having the highest average series score (36.5), followed very closely by Kelvin (36.4) – highlighting them as the two most consistently high-performing celebrities on the show.

Consistency matters; this season Molly has found herself in four dance-offs and yet she is the only one of the four Finalists to have never scored below 30 and together with Hamza holds the series record for highest average score of 34.8 (for the 13 dances performed to date). For interest, averages for Fleur and Helen this series are 34.5 and 32.9 respectively

Chris & Ola’s adjusted scores mean they are the winners with the lowest series average, and in terms of the average scores for their particular Series (Series 7), they were joint 4th (see Wikipedia).

Average Final Scores

Caroline & Pasha top the leaderboard here – like the true professional Caroline definitely saved her best performances for when they counted the most – with 3 of her 4 perfect 40 scores being awarded in the Series Final. No other winner has achieved this kind of fault-free finale to date, but that could be about to change.

Other couples have similarly achieved this outstanding result of perfect final night scores but not been fortunate enough to win: Lisa & Brendan (3rd place, Series 6 2008), Ashley & Pasha and Faye & Giovanni (Runners-Up, Series 16 2018). It remains to be seen whether any of this year’s Finalists can match Caroline’s record here – it would certainly be exciting to see.