Skip to main content

Home Culture Culture Film & TV

Layton Williams celebrates defying haters with perfect 40 on Strictly

"Fighting back from the bottom 2 is rough but what a perfect routine for it"

By Alastair James

Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin
Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin (Image: BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing‘s Layton Williams has celebrated getting a perfect score on the reality show over the weekend, defying his haters.

Ever since he was first announced for the show in August, the West End star has been subject to hate from some online who’ve argued his performance background has given him an unfair advantage.

Layton has clapped back previously, but rose above it all once again to achieve a perfect score on Saturday (2 December). He and his pro-dance partner, Nikita Kuzmin, danced the Paso Doble to ‘Backstage Romance’ from the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge!

They stunned the audience and judges alike with everyone singing the couple’s praises. On Sunday (3 December) Layton celebrated himself.

“10’s across [sic] the board!,” he typed on X, formerly Twitter. Referring to being in the bottom two the week before, he went on to write: “Fighting back from the bottom 2 is rough but what a perfect routine for it.”

He gave “all credit” to Kuzmin, who he said was the “most amazing dance partner & teacher ever.” Then, addressing the haters, he added: “Think what you want about me, but give [Kuzmin] his flowers plz”

In a later tweet following lashings of more praise from fans, Layton said that “Reading all these comments really gave me the boost to go out there and slay for the stageys, theatre fans & MT industry!

“I’ve been flying the flag for us all since day dot and hope I’m doing ya’ll proud. All these memories warmed my heart. Here’s to making more soon.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Saturday at 7:35pm.