Whether Kara Tointon’s Viennese Waltz with partner Artem Chigvintsev stole your heart in series eight of Strictly Come Dancing, or you fondly remember Harry Judd’s dance to victory alongside Aliona Vilani in 2011 – most fans of the popular BBC show will have a favourite celebrity dancer. But how do you go about determining who is the best ever?
Well, the Radio Times called upon statistician and Strictly fan Elkie Symes to take a look at the all judges’ scores from the last 12 series and calculate which celebrity is statistically the best dancer to have graced the Strictly dancefloor.
These contests are of course won on more than just technical skill – the Strictly Come Dancing scoring system combines both judges’ and viewers’ votes. As the Radio Times release reminds us “these scores don’t take into account the ‘likeability’ factor that can sway the public vote and ultimately decides who wins”.
The score gives us a good idea of who has done well with the judges – a good measure to see who is technically the best.
So who comes out top?
With an average score of 36.9, actor Natalie Gumede – who became the 2013 runner-up – tops the list with the highest average score. Behind her, by just 0.4 of a point, is 2007 winner Alesha Dixon who takes second place.
Former Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle takes joint third position with S Clubber Rachel Stevens. Although, the top of the list is peppered with winners, the overall top 10 somewhat surprisingly includes more runners-up than Strictly champions.
If your head is more in the present than in the past, you’ll be keeping an eye out for the hot favourites of this year’s contest. Of all those taking part in the 2014 series, Pixie Lott has the highest average score at 34.2 (based on scores up to 22 November 2014).
Although Lott is the only 2014 contestant to make an appearance in the list’s top 20, another firm favourite, Frankie Bridge, isn’t far behind with an average score of 33.8 (the same average score as Susanna Reid, who had the same professional dancer, Kevin Clifton). Mark Wright also makes the top 30 with an average score of 33.5.
With just eight points, motoring journalist Quentin Wilson, who exited the second series of the show in the first week, is the contestant with the lowest score. Irish celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin, who averaged 13.8 points, and BBC news presenter Nicholas Owen, who averaged 14 points, complete the bottom three.
Click here for a full list featuring each Strictly Come Dancing contestant along with their average judges score as calculated by the Radio Times.
