Strictly Come Dancing – live: Celebrities prepare for elimination as viewer vote returns

Strictly Come Dancing week two is upon us – and it’ll be a tense one for the celebrities as one star will not be making it through.

The first two weeks of the BBC competition have eased this year’s crop of stars in to proceedings, with a launch show, in which the contestants were partnered with their respective professional, and a first week of dances that saw nobody eliminated.

However, this week, the judges’ scores from last week will roll over and will then be combined with the viewer vote, meaning two couples will have to take part in the dreaded dance-off during Sunday’s results show (29 September).

Out of the 15 couples who danced, the leaderboard was topped with 31 points by JLS star JB Gill and Amy Dowden, who made a triumphant return to Strictly after being too ill to compete in last year’s series as she was recovering from treatment for stage three breast cancer.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale is punk-rock singer Toyah Willcox, who scored 12 out of 40, and former Arsenal player Paul Merson, who receivedjust 17 for his American Smooth to the football anthem “Vindaloo”.

Strictly updates

What dances and songs will the couples be performing this week?

11:15 , Jacob Stolworthy

The biggest talking points from last week’s episode included one rather odd song choice that saw poor Paul Merson dancing an American Smooth-of-sorts to Fat Les’s “Vindaloo”.

While it’s clear why they wanted Merson – a retired footballer – to dance to a football song, there were claims ahead of the episode that he felt somewhat shafted by the decision. Of course, it went down like a lead balloon and many believe he could be this year’s “joke” contestant.

Here are this week’s song choices and dances that the couples will be performing: