Layton Williams sets yet another Strictly Come Dancing record with spicy Salsa dance
Layton has made Strictly history… again. (BBC One)
Layton Williams has, once again, broken a Strictly Come Dancing record after slaying his week five performance with partner Nikita Kuzman.
Since the season premiere, Williams has been on a winning streak with his and Kuzman’s electric, jaw-dropping, same-sex routines, chock full of leaps, pirouettes, splits, and dips.
Now, the West End star has, for the second week in a row, danced so well that he set a Strictly record.
Williams and Kuzman dressed in bright pink and yellow outfits, challenging each other to a Salsa-infused dance-off to the tune of “Quimbara” by Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz.
The routine was, once again, flooded with shocking dance moves, as the pair tried to outdo each other with spins, shimmies, and swings, before eventually coming together for a few flips and cartwheels, and a Dirty Dancing-style lift that really got the crowd going.
When the performance came to an end, the pair were met with roars of approval from the crowd – and the judges were rather impressed, too, agreeing that the dance duo was “pretty much perfect.”
While judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas, and Anton Du Beke had all good things to say about the performance, Craig Revel Horwood’s only criticism was that Williams could do with pointing his toes a little more.
Nevertheless, the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie star earned himself a near-perfect score, with Mabuse, Ballas, and Du Beke handing out full 10’s, and Horwood scoring him a slightly lower 9.
Presenter Claudia Winkleman noted that the pair’s total of 39 points was a historic one in the Strictly books.
“I have a fact. We haven’t had a 39 in Week Five for 13 years,” she informed the pair.
The historic score comes just one week after Williams and Kuzman’s cha-cha routine saw him break not one, but two show records.
Not only had he performed the highest-scoring dance of the season thus far (a record he beat this week), but he had also earned the earliest-ever full-marks score from a judge in Strictly history.
And the viewers at home are loving Layton’s journey.
While some are a little bit peeved at the level of dance training that Williams had before joining the BBC One competition, most are happy to sit back and watch him make magic on their screens each week.
“I love Nikita and Layton so so so so much”, one fan posted to X (aka Twitter) over the weekend.
“Layton & Nikita’s salsa is now in my top dances. That was just amazing,” raved a second.
And a third commented: “WOW massive well done Layton and Nikita that was such a sizzling and spicy salsa from you both this week and I’ll give you a perfect 10! Brilliant lift as well and I would love you to be this year’s winners you’re both such stars!”
Strictly Come Dancing continues with Halloween Week on Saturday 27 October on BBC One.
