Strictly Come Dancing 2026 live: Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke set for surprise dance off in week three

Another Saturday means another brand new episode of Strictly Come Dancing, with more show stopping routines, more sequins and more fake tans – we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Last week’s episode saw the celebrities and the professional dance partners take to the stage to perform to tracks from Hollywood movies, marking the earliest point that Movie Week has ever occurred in the show’s schedule.

Hairdresser Chris Appleton and his professional partner Amy Dowden were the first couple to leave the show, after the judges chose to back Jaime Winston and Carlos Gu in the dance off.

This time around, there’s no set theme, meaning that we’ll be treated to everything from a Charleston to Gina G (yes, really) to a quickstep to “I’m a Believer”.

And judges Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke will be getting in on the action with a surprise dance off of their own during Sunday night’s results show.

They’ll be briefly swapping the judging panel for the dancefloor when they take part in a ballroom versus Latin showdown as part of a special group dance with the Strictly pros.

Ballas, of course, is representing Team Latin, while Du Beke is firmly on Team Ballroom.

And with the season now in its third week, there are still criticisms from fans over the new presenting trio.

Last week’s results show saw proceedings get a bit of a shake-up, with Emma Willis joining Johannes Radebe to debrief with the judges. Fans seemed to react positively to this Emma-Jojo combo – could the show bosses be gearing up to test out yet more iterations to see what works best?

We’ll be keeping you updated in the run-up to the show and during the episode itself…

What time is Strictly on tonight?

Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s live blog for tonight’s episode of Strictly Come Dancing.

The competition is now in its third week, with Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden being in the unenviable position of being the first couple to leave the series last Sunday.

As ever, the big question for the afternoon is: what time do things kick off this evening? As with last week, the show will be kicking off at 6.15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.