Strictly’s annual pilgrimage to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom is always a milestone. But in 2025, the trip to the seaside feels bigger, stranger and more emotional than ever – on screen and behind the scenes.
Blackpool week isn’t just another themed show
Blackpool Week has quietly become the real halfway summit of Strictly Come Dancing. The regular Elstree studio suddenly gives way to the gilded ceilings, chandeliers and sweeping balconies of the Tower Ballroom in Lancashire. For the pros and judges, dancing here is a homecoming to the spiritual centre of ballroom – a space that has hosted world championships, BBC’s original Come Dancing and generations of social dancers.
The ballroom itself is part of the drama. The sprung wooden floor – built to absorb impact and send energy back through the dancers – is far larger than the usual Strictly set, giving couples space to run, spin and travel in a way that simply isn’t possible on a normal Saturday night. That extra room is why routines feel more cinematic and why one misstep can suddenly feel very small, or very obvious, depending on the choreography.
A bigger floor, a different pressure
If you watch closely tonight, the geography of the room changes everything. Pros can build long diagonals for Viennese waltzes and quicksteps, pepper the edges with side-by-side sections, or push daring lifts out into the centre of the floor. Camera cranes and wide lenses are used more often, so a routine that might have looked intense and intimate at Elstree now has to fill a huge frame without losing technique.
For celebrities, Blackpool is both reward and test. They have survived the early eliminations; now they must prove they deserve to dance on a floor that is nine times the size of the regular studio. It is little wonder that many contestants say finally reaching the Tower Ballroom feels as significant as making the final itself.
Fewer couples, higher stakes after La Voix’s injury
One of the biggest changes this year is the shape of the line-up. Only six couples are scheduled to dance in Blackpool after La Voix was ruled out of performing on medical advice and granted a bye through to next week. The absence trims the running order and subtly alters the mood: there is more space in the show, but less safety for those who do take to the floor.
With fewer performances, every mistake becomes louder. There is no “middle of the pack” to hide in when only half a dozen routines separate the top of the leaderboard from the bottom. Expect judges to be frank and viewers to be fiercely protective of their favourites.
New twists and the “Instant Dance” era
2025 has already been a year of experimentation for Strictly. Producers have confirmed a new “Instant Dance” challenge later in the series – a 10-second panic window for couples to hear a track and assemble a routine – the clearest sign yet that the show is willing to play with its own format. Coverage in outlets such as The Independent has framed it as a moment that could fundamentally shift how risk and improvisation work on the programme.
Blackpool Week acts as the bridge into that more experimental phase. You can already see the producers leaning into bigger narrative beats – long pre-dance films, emotional arcs about “finally making it to Blackpool”, and choreographers building routines designed not just to impress the judges but to live forever in compilation videos.
Production glow-up: cameras, costumes and crowd energy
Even if you’re watching on a phone or a small screen, Blackpool looks different. The lighting team uses deeper reds, oceanic blues and spotlight sweeps that echo the tower lights outside. Extra cameras capture overhead patterns in group numbers and long, gliding shots across the sprung floor. It’s no coincidence that some of the show’s most replayed routines were filmed in this room.
Costumes are dialled up to match the surroundings: more feathers, more sequins, more old-Hollywood silhouettes. The crowd, packed tightly around the floor rather than banked in tiers, creates a wall of sound that drives the tempo of faster routines. When a couple lands a perfect series of fleckerls or a risky lift right in front of the judges’ desk, you can almost feel the noise lifting them a couple of marks higher.
The history is part of the story
To understand why Blackpool Week matters so much, it helps to remember where it is happening. The Blackpool Tower Ballroom opened at the end of the 19th century, and its ornate plasterwork, chandeliers and famous sprung floor still draw dancers from around the world. For many professionals on Strictly, Blackpool is where they first competed as teenagers; returning with a prime-time TV audience feels like closing a circle.
That heritage seeps into the coverage. Judges talk about “doing the room justice”; pros visibly soak in the space during dress rehearsal; celebrities often admit in exit interviews that reaching Blackpool was their private goal all along, regardless of how far they go afterwards.
🟢 Final Update — Blackpool Week 2025: Tonight’s Strictly performances delivered one of the strongest Blackpool specials in recent years. The expanded Tower Ballroom floor allowed bolder choreography, while the judges rewarded couples who showed control and sharp musicality on the wider stage. The top-scoring routine earned a standing ovation, and social media has been flooded with praise for the night’s most polished performances. With the competition now entering its decisive stage, Blackpool has reshaped momentum heading into next week’s choreography-heavy round.
