Last night Claudia praised Layton & Nikita for achieving the 3rd ever Week 2 score of 36, but according to our stats, Layton & Nikita are actually the 4th couple to score 36 points in Week 2 in SCD history. This is especially impressive considering there have been 269 Week 2 dances on the show to date. We thought you might like to see the other dances that have matched this total. All the other couples who have done so, went on to be Finalists in their Series, though it is interesting that none of them went on to win.

What do you think? Were these outstanding early scores deserved? Which four 9s Week 2 dance has been your favourite? Let us know in the Comments below.

1st to score 36 in Week 2: Colin & Erin

• Colin’s Week 2 Quickstep in Series 3 (2005) was his first ballroom dance with Erin.
• He describes in the video (27s-45s) how the crowd reaction to the dance was one of his most special moments on Strictly.
• Colin & Erin finished Runners-up, losing out to Darren & Lilia in the Final.
• The complete original Week 2 performance is not currently available, but here is their performance of the dance in the Final (which scored 39).

36 for a Week 2 Charleston: Sophie & Brendan

• An outstanding early performance from Sophie here in 2013.
• Particularly accomplished as the average Week 2 Charleston score is 24.9.
• Sophie & Brendan were eliminated in the Final after dancing their Viennese Waltz (39) and Showdance (35); the winners of Series 11 were Abbey & Aljaz.
• Perhaps a pity that this dance was not performed again, as we suspect its score would have increased.

Best Week 2 Paso Doble ever: Alexandra & Gorka

• Of 8 Pasos danced in Week 2, Alexandra & Gorka’s stands head and shoulders – and a whole 10 points – above the next best scoring.
• They ended up topping the Final week leaderboard in Series 15 above Joe & Katya by just 1 point, but lost to them in the public vote.
• They dropped just a single point in the Final – with Craig scoring them a 9 for their Showdance.

2nd Quickstep to score 36 in Week 2: Layton & Nikita

• Anton described Layton & Nikita’s performance as “ridiculous, remarkable, extraordinary” and Craig said “there was nothing basic about that“.
• 34 Quicksteps have been danced in Week 2 to date.
• Our research has shown that Quickstep is actually the safest dance to perform on Strictly, with only 13.3% of all Quicksteps ending up in the Bottom 2.