Strictly Come Dancing winner says judges' minds made up before live shows

Cricketing star Darren Gough was one of the first ever winners of Strictly Come Dancing when he lifted the Glitterball during the third series back in 2005.

Now he's been spilling some behind the scenes secrets ahead of the 20th anniversary Halloween special of the BBC series this weekend.

Darren believes the judges have already made up their minds before the contestants take to the floor during the live shows and make their decisions on scoring when they watch final rehearsals prior to the live show.

"I believe that's where the judges get a lot of their info from [final rehearsals] because they have to prepare as well. They have to have some idea of what they're going to do,” he told OLBG.

And while comedian Chris McCausland is now favourite to win the 2024 series, Darren thinks he could well be out this weekend if he finds himself in the dance off - which he's avoided so far - and instead he's tipped EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick to win the show with Love Island's Tasha Ghouri not far behind.

“If he gets in there (dance off), I think he goes,” added Darren of Chris, who was told earlier this month by Craig Revel Horwood: "You can dance."

The former Strictly winner - who'd like to see sportsmen Kevin Pieterson, Gareth Bale and Andy Murray compete in the future - says the judging format is “very difficult now” as contestants aren’t all doing the same style of dance each week.

He said: "Back when I did it, we all did the same dance that week, so you could judge everyone. I find it very difficult now, how do you actually judge someone when you've got someone doing a Waltz, someone doing a Quickstep and someone doing a Jive? Naturally, some of the dancers are full of energy and some aren’t, and the public is like, ‘This is a boring dance’.

“They've just seen a Quickstep and then they watch a Rumba… you’re going to struggle to get points.”

He also believes that with the judges now having the final say after a dance off, rather than the elimination purely being decided on a public vote as it was previously, the final will be made up of the best dancers rather than the public's favourites.

Both Shayne Ward and JB Gill, considered among the better dancers, recently foud themselves in the dance off but survived after the judges' voted.

Darren said: "I was never in the bottom two because the public mainly voted, but now, if you're a good dancer, you’re literally guaranteed to get to that last four because the judges always have that final say, right?

“I think JB, as long as he's not in the bottom two with one of the other three or four who are better than him, he's going to keep getting through.

“So, that's the secret, stay out of the bottom two, but the public have got to enjoy you and at the minute, they've not really attracted themselves to JB or Shayne. I think Shayne is an absolutely fantastic dancer and he's another one who could improve; but again, the public is not really buying into it yet, but that can change quickly."

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer