It’s nearly time for Week 1 and the hot topic of debate here at StrictlyDB is our first Strictly leaderboard of the season. More specifically, who is destined to shimmy to the top and who will stumble to the bottom with a flop. So for a bit of fun we thought we’d share our thoughts….

Will Series 21 see any ‘late-blooming’ couples, whose dance scores improve considerably in the second half of the competition? Here we countdown the top ten partnerships who improved the most when comparing their average scores from the two halves of the competition.

We are at the halfway point and the competition is definitely hotting up in the Strictly Ballroom. Here we explore seven facts and stats from the first seven weeks of the show – some you may know, others you may not and one or two will probably surprise you, as they did us!

This year’s Halloween episode included a rare instance of Craig awarding a routine with the highest individual score from the judging panel.  Here we look back at the 8 routines that saw a ‘rebellious’ Craig subvert our expectations.

The last two weeks have seen back-to-back Salsa success at the top of the leaderboard for the first time on Strictly. This is great news for Layton & Nikita and Ellie & Vito as the data suggests this might be a good omen for getting all the way to the Final…

Happy Strictly Halloween everybody! A terrifying ‘trick’ here where we look at the 6 partnerships who received their lowest score of the Series in Halloween week. Look out for Part 1, where we’ll share the more ‘tantalising’ Halloween dances that saw couples earning their highest score.

Happy Strictly Halloween Eve everybody! A tantalising ‘treat’ here where we look at the 9 partnerships who achieved their highest score of the Series at Halloween week. Look out for Part 2, where we’ll share the more ‘tricksome’ Halloween dances that saw couples earning their lowest score. Enjoy!

In this blog post we look at couples who were saved by the public from the unenviable position of a combined early running order spot with a position at the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard.

More often than not, the Strictly judges and viewers are in broad alignment over which two couples should perform in the weekly dance-off, however in this blog we look back at the partnerships from the last ten years who suffered a drop of at least five places on the Leaderboard once the public had had their say.

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 do so in SCD history. The other three couples went on to be Finalists in their Series, but none of them became champions. Does this trend mean Layton and Nikita are destined for the final? Let’s discuss…