Strictly Come Dancing winner ‘revealed’ after first live show despite ‘fix’ accusations

Strictly Come Dancing 2024 kicked off to a dazzling start on Saturday night, with Amy Dowden making a triumphant return to the ballroom, Chris McCausland winning over the public and JB Gill already topping the leaderboard.

The BBC programme is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a stellar line-up this year, including Pete Wicks, Tasha Ghouri, Jamie Borthwick, Nick Knowles, and Shayne Ward, as 15 celebrities set their sights on the glitterball trophy, and hope to follow in the footsteps of 2023 winners Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola.

And it looks like we already have a hint at who could be winning, with a clear indication from the leaderboard and the latest odds.

The first dances of the series saw JB and Amy with 31 points in top spot, closely followed by Love Island star Tasha and partner Aljaž Škorjanec and actress Sarah Hadland and partner Vito both following with 30 points.

At the bottom, Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones scored 12 points, while Pete and Jowita Pryzstal’s pasadoble and Paul Merson’s Vindaloo American Smooth with Karen Hauer only managed 17.

And while JLS singer JB is soaring above the others, he’s not actually tipped to win.

According to the latest odds by Ladbrokes, Tasha stands at odds of 3/1, followed by fan-favourite Chris at 7/2, joint with JB.

Meanwhile, Paul and Nick are at the bottom, with odds of 80/1.

This comes despite ‘fix’ accusations, with fans pointing out Tasha’s past dance experience.

‘Tasha getting all high scores but sure she’s a professional dancer, bit unfair,’ @GeorgiaFinn11209 wrote on X.

‘Love tasha ghouri but bit unfair her being in strictly when she’s a dancer?’ @_okamber added, to which @SG902110 replied: ‘Agreed! I think she’ll win it with her dance background too.’

‘Isn’t Tasha Ghouri a professional dancer? Wasn’t that a thing when she was in Love Island?’ @stewiebirnie wrote.

‌@evrmorslvr said: ‘I love tasha but she isn’t meant to be on the show because she is already a PROFESSIONAL DANCER.’

Others defended Tasha, with @unityteal writing: ‘shes not ballroom or latin trained though, there are multiple ‘trained’ dancers on the show.’

@Hannah15_f1 said: ‘She’s Only trained in dance styles like contemporary and hip hop NOT ballroom and Latin its DIFFERENT!!!!!’

Tasha, who made history on Love Island in 2022 as the show’s first deaf contestant, previously addressed the ‘fix’ claims, insisting Strictly would be a new kind of experience, saying: ‘I’ve not danced in quite a few years now, since Love Island my career has changed so much.

‘I might not be good at it, like ballet, I’m not good at ballet, I’m trained in commercial, so I’m excited to learn these new styles.’

Tasha’s cha cha cha to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter earned roaring praise from the judges last night, with head judge Shirley Ballas saying: ‘You’re on your way to having one of the most spectacular leg actions I’ve seen on the show.’

Anton Du Beke said she was ‘terrific’, while Craig Revel Horwood hailed their performance as a ‘slay’.