Strictly's Ellie Leach and Vito get 10 score for "best show" this season

That briefly put her top of the Strictly leaderboard for the night – although she was quickly overtaken by Layton Williams after he and Nikita Kuzmin scored a near-perfect 39 points for their electrifying Salsa to Quimbara by Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz.

But the score is still a huge step up for Ellie compared to last week's 28 and ensures that she will be very close to the top of the standings come the end of the episode.

The judges were unanimous in their praise for the dance, with Anton saying that everything was "just right" and Craig adding that Ellie and Vito's partnership was "on fire."

But it was Motsi who was most enthusiastic with her comments, saying: "This is what we want. I felt like this was on a whole different level. This was attack, this was power, this was control."

She added: "This was for me the very best show since we started the season. I loved it!"

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The judges weren't the only people who were impressed by the routine, with a number of Strictly fans taking to social media to sing Ellie'e praises as well.

One fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter) "NOW THAT IS HOW YOU DO A PASO! ellie and vito are unstoppable" while another added: "Ellie and Vito are an absolute dream. Loved that paso!!"

And some viewers argued that Ellie should have scored even more points, with one writing: "As Anton said: It was loads of great things coming together - the music, the passion and the dance. Mesmerising! Definitely should have been more than one 10!"

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 21st October at 6:40pm. The results show will air on Sunday 22nd October at 7:15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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