BBC Strictly Come Dancing winner reveals judging secret ahead of Halloween special

Cricket icon Darren Gough, the winner of Strictly Come Dancing's third series in 2005, has offered some behind-the-scenes knowledge as anticipation builds for the BBC show's 20th anniversary Halloween special this weekend. Gough suggests that the judges may have made up their minds about performances before the live shows.

"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 stated during an exchange with OLBG.

Speculations swirl as comedian Chris McCausland is favoured to secure the 2024 series title; however, Gough warns of a possible twist. He believes that should McCausland face the dance off, he could go.

Gough suggests EastEnders' Jamie Borthwick instead and regards Love Island's Tasha Ghouri as another strong contender. "If he gets in there (dance off), I think he goes," Gough said about McCausland, who garnered positive remarks from judge Craig Revel Horwood: "You can dance."

Gough, keen to see sports personalities like Kevin Pieterson, Gareth Bale, and Andy Murray take to the Strictly stage, also spoke on the complexity of judging in light of the diverse weekly dance routines, describing it as "very difficult now", reports the Express.

He remarked: "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 continued: "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."