Why doesn’t he win?

Strictly Come Dancing’s Layton Williams is the best dancer on the show this year but even better is Coronation Street star Ellie Leach winning the glitter ball. The Bad Education star has the highest score so far in the 12 weeks of the BBC dance series – with 116. And in Week 11 he became the first celebrity contestant in the series to achieve a perfect 40 for his Paso Doble.

Williams, 29, has also reached the final along with soap stars Leach and EastEnders actor Bobby Brazier, who scored 111 and 107 respectively. But bookies place Ellie Leach and her partner Vito Coppola as favorites to win Strictly 2023 with bettingsites.co.uk’s latest odds of 1/8. Williams and professional partner Nikita Kuzmin are tied for second place and are odds on to take the glitterball at 13/2.

Underdog loves tight

Audiences tend to favor the underdog, and recent winners include wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin, EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis and actor and comedian Bill Bailey. For fans of the show, it’s all about the ‘journey’ of watching a celebrity go from indecisive to insecure.

And so there is a history of backlash against Strictly contestants who have a background in dance or dance training, even if it was way back when they were a child on the school stage. As a result Williams has faced hate trolling online for being a part of the show.

Williams has studied street dance and ballet and has appeared on stage in the West End musicals Billy Elliot, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Thriller, in which he played a young Michael Jackson. As a child he trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theater Arts in London, which led to him appearing in the CBBC documentary series School for Stars.

Williams was awarded the highest score from the Strictly judges in Week 2 for his Quickstep, and has topped the leaderboard for seven weeks out of 12.

Bending the rules

Although he has shown his flexibility and gymnastic skills during his performances on the show, he has been criticized by the judges for his loose posture and ballroom style, especially when he dances in turn, rather than by himself.

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Head judge Shirley Ballas praised him for bending the rules of ballroom dancing, and said she would have sent him home after the dance with Angela Scanlon in Week 10, when he did an American Smooth to It’s Oh So Quiet with Björk. But other celebrities and dancers who took part in Strictly have spoken out in his defence.

The Layton team

Dame Arlene Phillips has said it will be a “tragedy” if Layton Williams doesn’t win the show. The former head of Strictly is a musical theater choreographer and has worked with Williams. She told the Mirror: “If the community isn’t behind Layton, he’s not going to win, and in many ways, I think that’s a tragedy because yes, he’s dancing but he’s got the force and the personality layton puts in there. “

Phillips – who judged Strictly for the first six series – said of Layton’s dancing background: “It’s not at all an unfair advantage over the other dancers they’ve had, like the Pussycat Dolls’ Ashley Roberts. They had people who had come up before who were dancing… There was always anger from certain members of the public who they were dancing before…” She said: “Am I biased about Layton? Fully. I want to win it. Because Layton has worked hard for everything he has and everything he does.”

Former Strictly pro Robin Windsor, who worked on the show between 2010 and 2013, spoke out on social media, asking trolls to leave Williams alone. He wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “STOP this hate for Layton Williams it’s BULYING ffs. The poor guy sees all these comments everyone tags him in – how is he supposed to do that You should be ashamed of yourself. What ever happened to being kind? [sic].”

Neil Jones is a professional dancer who joined the show in 2016. He previously argued that Williams still deserved a place in the competition, as he could improve his Latin and Ballroom technique every week. Jones said OK!: “Layton is a dancer but he has never danced Latin Ballroom, it’s different. He’s doing a great job and I really think we’re going to see the growth from him, and that’s when people are going to change their views.”

Professional dancer James Jordan worked on Strictly for eight series between 2006 and 2013. He said of Williams’ Charleston, which he scored a perfect 40 for: “I thought it was perfection.” Writing in his Hello! The Jordan magazine column said: And I haven’t said that in all these years. It was perfection. Now, I know people at home will say, ‘But he’s a professional dancer’, and I understand that. It has a huge advantage. But you still have to admit that in my opinion it was the best dance ever on Strictly.”

Ellie Leach’s perfect journey

Corrie star Leach, 22, was a child actress, cast in the soap when she was just 10 years old and recently left the cobbles after 12 years. She has no known dance training but got off to a strong start in Week 1, scoring a 29 on her Jive, the same score as Williams. Leach did not top the leaderboard until Week 6, with his Salsa to Murder On the Dancefloor in Halloween Week. But the audience and the judges are very impressed with her visible improvement week after week, as well as her commitment to exercises and the great joy she has in the performance.

Leach is also tongue-in-cheek about her close relationship with professional dance partner Coppola. The pair appear to have become very close during the 12 weeks and even shared some kisses on the dance floor after the steamy Rhumba.

If there’s one thing Strictly viewers love even more than underdog – it’s a love story. Many celebrities have ended relationships after falling out with their dance partners due to the infamous Strictly curse. And the experts agree that they spend so much time together, getting physical and acting passionately on the dance floor, it’s no wonder that it can be a tough love affair.

The Strictly Come Dancing 2023 final will be broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday 16 December at 7pm.

Read more: Strictly Come Dancing

Watch: Layton Williams shuts down criticism