Strictly Come Dancing 2024 Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The twenty-second series of the show began on 14 September with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as the hosts. The judges were Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton du Beke and the head judge, Shirley Ballas. The contestants were the usual mix of soap stars, reality television regulars, sports stars and so on. As usual, apart from the final, scores given to the competitors are a combination of those given by the judges and the public, meaning that the celebrity who is sent home is not necessarily the worst dancer.

In the 2024 series, the first person to leave was Tom Dean, a swimmer who won three gold medals at the 2020 Olympic Games. He was partnered with Nadiya Bychkova and probably didn't deserve to be despatched so early. Swimming is something of a minority sport, so he was probably the least known to the public. Next to leave was Toyah Wilcox, with her partner Neil Jones. Toyah is a singer, who had hits primarily during the 1980s. It's fair to say that her singing is better than her dancing, though.

Third off was the television presenter Nick Knowles, partnered with Luba Mushtuk, and he was followed by Paul Merson, a former football (soccer) player and partner Karen Hauer. Neither of these men was particularly skilful at dancing - Merson's footwork skills didn't translate to the dance floor, and he could well have been voted off earlier.

Fifth and sixth to depart were two of the female contestants, Punam Krishan (with Gorka Márquez) and Sam Quek (with Nikita Kuzmin). Punam is a doctor who appears regularly on the morning television show 'Morning Live' on BBC 1. Sam Quek was a hockey player who took part in the Olympics and has since become a television presenter as well as taking part in the 2016 series of the reality show 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'

Shayne Ward was the next casualty with his partner Nancy Xu. Shayne was the winner of the 2005 series of 'The X Factor' and has since pursued an acting career alongside his music. Wynne Evans, paired with Katya Jones, followed him the week after. Evans is probably best known to the majority of British viewers as the face and voice of the 'Go Compare' insurance comparison website adverts. He also presents a programme on BBC Radio Wales and performs with the Welsh National Opera.

Getting closer to the final, and some of the better dancers have their hopes dashed. Jamie Borthwick, partnered with Michelle Tsiakkas, became the ninth to leave the competition. Jamie is an actor who has appeared in the BBC soap 'EastEnders' since 2006. Another athlete, Montell Douglas, with her partner Johannes Radebe were next to go. Montell was a track athlete, specialising in sprinting. She then transferred to the winter sport of bobsleigh, which needs human speed at the start of the run, and competed in the Winter Olympics in 2022. Since retiring from sport, Montell has become a 'Gladiator', competing under the name of 'Fire'.

The last celebrity to be eliminated before the final was Pete Wicks, generally considered to be one of the weaker dancers but kept out of the dance offs thanks to his popularity with the public. His luck, and that of his partner Jowita Przysta?, eventually ran out and the judges took their chance to vote him off. Pete's 'claim to fame' is to be a regular on various reality television shows, starting with 'The Only Way is Essex' in 2015.

The celebrity finalists were Tasha Ghouri, paired with Aljaz Skorjanec, Sarah Hadland with Vito Coppola, JB Gill who began the show with Amy Dowden who had to be replaced by Lauren Oakley when she was injured and Chris McCausland with Dianne Buswell. Tasha has appeared on various television programmes and was an excellent dancer. This seems to have been a negative in the public's opinion, as she was in the dance offs twice. Sarah was popular and never appeared in the bottom two. She is an actress, appearing on both television and in films, and is probably best known for her role in the television series 'Miranda'.

JB Gill appeared in the bottom two only once, quite early, and (obviously) survived. He was a member of the successful boy band JLS, who also came to fame following an appearance on 'The X Factor', this time in 2008. The winner was Chris McCausland who won the hearts of many by managing to take part despite being blind. He formed a close friendship with Dianne, who had to devise ways of teaching him the steps and movements he needed. Chris was particularly good in ballroom, where he had more support from his partner, and the judges appeared to mark him fairly, without allowances for his disability. Being a stand-up comedian also helped, as he was quick to come up with retorts, particularly when Craig was offering his criticisms. Despite having the lowest score from the judges of the four finalists, Chris won the trophy and his fellow finalists gave every appearance of being genuinely happy for him.

The wrong answers are a mixture of (mostly) previous winners. Jill Halfpenny won in 2004, Alesha Dixon in 2007, Tom Chambers in 2008 and Louis Smith in 2012. Jay McGuinness was the 2015 winner and Stacey Dooley in 2018. Frankie Bridge and Fleur East were both runners-up, in 2014 and 2022 respectively. Ed Balls, a former politician, took part in 2016 and performed one of the more memorable dances to 'Gangnam Style' earning him a spot in the history of the series.