Strictly Come Dancing fans are loving series 23’s major dance-off change - ‘common sense prevailed’
Strictly fans say ‘common sense prevailed’ after the casting vote rules change 💃🕺📺
- Strictly Come Dancing has revamped the dance-off.
- The casting vote is being rotated around - instead of left to head judge.
- It came into play for the first time last night and fans loved it.
A major new rule came into play on Strictly Come Dancing for the very first time last night. In a revamp of the dance-off format, the casting vote is being rotated between all of the judges in series 23.
For the first two eliminations, it did not factor into the result as the decision was unanimous. However, for the third dance-off, it was required to separate the bottom two and fans have hailed the change.
Recap what happened in the dance-off last night (October 19) in my full report here. Chris Robshaw became the third celeb to leave, but EastEnders’ favourite Balvinder Sopal came very close to heading home.
How has the Strictly Come Dancing dance-off changed?
Heading into series 23 of its legendary reality competition, the BBC announced its biggest change to the dance-off in years. In years passed, the casting vote would always go to the head judge - in this case Shirley Ballas - however for the 2025 edition, it is being rotated around the judging panel.
It means over the course of the season, all four of the judges will take turns having the casting vote. For the very first time in this series, the casting vote came into play last night (October 19).
The panel was split down the middle on whether Chris Robshaw or Balvinder Sopal should leave. Craig Revel Horwood had the power this week and he decided to save Balvinder.
Strictly Come Dancing fans are loving this dance-off change
Strictly fans were quick to rush to social media to praise the change to the casting vote, especially as it meant that Balvinder would be sticking around for at least another week.
One fan declared: “Common sense prevailed.” Another wrote: “Correct result, but there should be an odd number of judges so there is a clear majority.”
A viewer added: “I think it's terrible that Bal would have been out if they hadn't changed the format!” One echoed: “If Shirley was head judge this week Chris would have stayed! Glad they are in rota.”
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