Scarlett Moffatt’s triumph highlights Strictly Come Dancing’s biggest flaw 

To the surprise of absolutely no one watching the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, it was won by Scarlett Moffatt and her professional partner Vito Coppola.

The Gogglebox star, who must be aiming for a record for her number of reality TV appearances, closed the utterly surreal but strangely brilliant festive episode.

Her phenomenal Cha Cha, to Cher’s criminally underrated Christmas banger, DJ Play a Christmas Song, followed a string of bizarrely overmarked performances (yes, I appreciate it was all in the spirit of Christmas that even Craig Revel Horwood could get into).

But Scarlett pulled out all the stops for a routine that could have been lifted straight from a real Strictly final, complete with spectacular tricky lifts, lightning-fast footwork and expert precision, scoring her a deserved 40.

Of course, that’s no real surprise when she has had plenty of dance training.

Ahead of the one-off special airing yesterday, the I’m A Celebrity winner was even forced to shut down ‘fix’ claims, despite the Christmas special being so obviously unserious.

Scarlett’s electric Cha Cha made the Strictly Christmas special, an episode that really means absolutely nothing, genuinely exciting, which was clearly the producers’ trick: save the best for last.

There wasn’t a weak link in sight, though. EastEnders star Nicholas Bailey arguably delivered the second-best performance of the night. His Viennese Waltz was smooth and surprisingly technical.

Had he been given a more energetic style of dance, which is arguably more of a vote-winner, he might have given Scarlett a real run for her money, only one mark behind her on the scoreboard.

If any of the night’s contenders deserved a spot on the main series, surely it would be Nicholas.

Comedian Babatunde Aléshé’s Charleston was fun, if a little forgettable. Westlife star Brian McFadden proved his talents were wasted on simply standing up from a stool at the key change in Westlife.

Singer Melanie Blatt was surprisingly graceful, considering All Saints’ choreography has been arguably very lacklustre. Meanwhile, Gladiators star Jodie Ounsley (aka Fury) gave everything to her Street Commercial routine so soon after the death of her dad.

But on a December 25 that was so bitterly disappointing for television, Scarlett might even have been the highlight of Christmas TV.

But had Scarlett been competing on the regular series of Strictly, where viewers mercilessly hunt down anyone with even a whiff of dance training, she would likely have faced abuse she didn’t even know was imaginable.

Love Island winner Amber Davies faced unbelievable trolling simply for being an extremely talented dancer in this year’s series.

Granted, she is a West End star, so her grave offence was making performing on stage a career, while Scarlett has largely kept her talent under wraps and instead built a remarkable following through her sharp sense of humour.

Regardless, Scarlett would almost certainly have been hounded on Strictly Come Dancing, even though there’s a very good chance she would have deserved to win. 

The Christmas champion is decided by the studio audience, and this crowd were clearly much wiser than the general public, crowning the best dancer of the night – and rightly so.

As we saw in the most recent series of Strictly, and time and time before that, the general public can’t be trusted when it comes to a vote. 

Lewis Cope might have been the best dancer Strictly has ever seen and didn’t even make the semi-final. Possibly the biggest robbery in the show’s 21 year history.

It’s a travesty, but Scarlett would probably experience the same absurd disappointment. She could comfortably be the best performer of a series and receive nothing but abuse online before being hurled out of the competition long before her time. 

After yesterday, I want to see so much more of Scarlett dancing. With weeks of training, she could be an unbelievable talent – and she wouldn’t be the first Christmas winner to land a spot on the main show. 

EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick won the 2023 Christmas contest and then competed on the regular series the following year, making it all the way to week 10.

But all we need to do is look at Amber. She made it to the final, albeit after surviving three undeserved dance-offs. So while she was rightly delighted to be a finalist, I hope she had a very good therapist on speed dial to deal with the traumatic abuse she endured for three months.

Then again, former England footballer Karen Carney managed to take home the Glitterball trophy in a year when professional dance training has never felt like such a crime – even though she, too, had training in her teens, which was abundantly clear when her legs appeared to take on a life of their own.

Like Karen, Scarlett has become an enduring star simply through her winning personality, which might just help her retain public support even with obvious dance training.

Sadly, given the completely unhinged reaction to previous contestants who have admitted to having so much as a dance lesson, I’m not sure it’s even worth finding out.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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