Key events
Show key events only
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Judges’ scores: 7, 8, 8, 8 for a total of 31 points. Her best ballroom score. Tearful Vicky is “over the moon”.
Judges’ comments: Shirley says “huge improvement from your week two foxtrot”. Anton says “breathy, big and bold, marvellous heel turn, super performance”. Craig says “needed more reach and extension, smoother transitions and nicer shape in flight, but wonderful to see your confidence growing”. Motsi concludes “finish your moves, make it cleaner but atmospheric and characterful, you’re a contender for the final”. Sevens and the odd eight?
ShareVicky and Kai’s alluring American smooth
Vicky Pattison and her pro partner Kai Widdrington are the only couple in the contest to increase their score every week. Can the Geordie lass continue that steady improvement? She’s playing a ghost in a pearl-embellished white frock. Foxtrot steps and solid frame. Smooth with a sprinkle of spookiness. Spinning lifts. Posture not perfect and the odd thrown-away move but lovely flow. This is her first number with proper storytelling and she’s doing a great job of bringing the drama.
Song: Total Eclipse Of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler. the 1983 power-pop chart-topper was written and produced by Jim Steinman, who Tyler approached after liking his work with Meat Loaf. It was originally written for a Nosferatu musical, hence the rather vampiric lyrics. It once topped a poll of most popular songs to sing in the shower.
Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington. Photograph: Guy Levy/BBC/PAShare
Updated at 14.45 EDT
Our Strictly stars™
Our couples emerge for staircase waves and they’ve all been raiding the creepy costume box. Devils! Ghosts! A big bad wolf! And a white rabbit, for some strange reason! It’s like a posse of toddlers going trick-or-treating.
ShareJudges rise from the grave
The paddle-raising quartet arrive in full fancy dress. All in a steampunk vampiric vibe, including Auntie Joan aka Anton. The panel’s table is cobweb draped with skull and pumpkin ornaments. Never knowingly under-themed.
ShareFrockwatch
Our Halloween hosts arrive, so let’s rate their fright night finery. Tess Daly is black velvet strapless affair with matching choker. Claudia Winkleman is in a polo necked number. Claud wins.
ShareCue clapalong titles
Five of the male celebs have bowed out already, via a combo of elimination and injury. Who’s next on the night bus home from Borehamwood?
ShareAaaaand we’re off!
Cue the compulsory horror-themed VT. A Blair Witch Project parody this year. With added zombies.
Insert your vampire fangs and nibble on some necks. Or at least a bowl of Nice ‘N’ Spicy Nik-Naks. We’re about to go over live to the Elstree Studios ballroom…
ShareOn your dance cards tonight
Another selection box tonight, with nine different dance styles. The only doubling up is from Vicky Pattison and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who both perform American smooths. We’ll also see an Argentine tango from Karen Carney and a Couple’s Choice form Lewis Cope.
Just five frightening minutes until the spangly curtain comes up…
Amanda Holden-hosted quiz hotchpotch The Celebrity Inner Circle just wrapping up on BBC1. As always seems to be the case, there’s a few Strictly alumna among the guests. This week, it’s Chizzy Akudolu (first out in 2017), JJ Chalmers (quarter-finalist in 2020) and Melvin Odoom (first out in 2016). A mere 10 minutes to wait now…
ShareBwa-ha-ha, it’s Halloween bingo
Tick them off when you spot them! Drink a bubbling, smoking potion for each! End up doing the Monster Mash and the Timewarp at a total stranger’s house party! Here’s tonight’s 10-point spotter’s checklist:
Judges wield pumpkin/ghost/bat-shaped scoring paddles
Someone begins routine by climbing out of a coffin, sparking traumatic Nancy Dell’Olio flashbacks
Halloween prop overload means way too much “messin’ abaht” and dances take ages to get going
Routine “enhanced” and “augmented” by shonky CGI creatures
Claudia and Tess dress in gothic black and blood red respectively
A judge or pro has a disembodied hand on their shoulder
Craig says a dance was “a horror show, darling” with “frightening footwork” or “stiff zombie hips”
Band leader Dave Arch is dressed as a baton-wielding werewolf/vampire
Someone’s face-paint transfers to their partner’s cheek or costume during the dance
Production team’s names are “spookified” with Halloween puns on the end credits
ShareMidway mark next week
Tonight’s 10 couples are bidding to get through to week seven, which marks the halfway milestone of the contest. Fun fact: this is the furthest we’ve ever got into a series without Anton Du Beke giving a perfect 10. Could it happen tonight?
Twenty minutes until the glittery curtain comes up…
ShareYour Halloween highlights
What’s your most memorable Halloween routine of Strictly yore? Numbers that stick in my mind include Ashley Roberts’ witchy Charleston, Faye Tozer’s skeletal Couple’s Choice, Kara Tointon’s Phantom paso and Frankie Bridge’s green-faced Wicked tango.
All by female celebs, I notice. Has a celebrity male ever delivered a Halloween classic? Let me know your own favourites. It’s 25 minutes until the ghostly glitterball starts spinning…
ShareAnother monstrous elimination looms
Balvinder Sopal is bookies’ strong favourites for the boot again this week, followed by La Voix and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey. Amber Davies will also be nervy after last week’s dance-off shock.
Could Halloween characterisation help them all to safety? Half an hour until we get our first choreographic clues…
ShareWhose hoofing will be a horror show in the Halloween Spooktacular?
Someone will be sent home in pumpkin-shaped carriage. Good evening and welcome to the sixth live weekend of Strictly Come Dancing 2025. I’m Michael, your cyber dance partner for tonight’s fright night special. You are cordially yet creepily invited to watch along with me as our 10 remaining couples cook up a cauldron of choreography.
Last time out, Icons Week saw the first major dance-off shock of the series, as Amber Davies plummeted from joint second on the scoreboard into the bottom two. But she managed to survive and instead, former Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink departed the dancefloor.
Tonight the surviving 10 pairs undergo terrifying transformations to perform deliciously dark dances which they hope will bewitch judges and voting viewers alike. It promises to be a feast of twinkle-toed trick or technical treat. But who will be kept alive and kicking in the competition? And for whom will the Halloween church bell toll?
It’s supernatural showtime at 6.35pm on BBC One. I’ll be liveblogging from 6.05pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, analysis, reaction and pumpkin-spiced asides. So pour yourself a magic potion and I’ll see you on the sofa.
As always, I’d love to hear from you too. You can tweet me @michaelhogan, contact me on Bluesky or Threads @michaelhogan100, email me michael.hogan.freelance@guardian.co.uk and the comments section below is open for bwa-ha-ha banter. I’ll zombie-walk down there whenever I can to see what you’re all saying, quoting some of your Halloween wit and wisdom up top. So please don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts.
It’s week six and it’s going to be a scream. Nearly time to staaaart spooky dancing!