Strictly Come Dancing 2026 confirms MAJOR series-first twist as fourth couple is eliminated

Strictly Come Dancing has confirmed a major series-first twist for next week, as we said goodbye to our fourth couple tonight (Sunday 25 October). Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr became the fourth couple to leave the season following a dance off against Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu.

Both couples performed their routines again, with Jaime and Carlos dancing the Foxtrot to 'Man I Need' by Olivia Dean and Shaun and Alexis dancing the Jive to 'Faith' by Stevie Wonder ft. Ariana Grande.

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Following the dance-off the judges delivered their verdict with Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse choosing to save Jaime and Carlos and Shirley Ballas choosing Shaun and Alexis.

Anton Du Beke then had the deciding vote and chose to send Shaun and Alexis home.

On the other end of the leaderboard, Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita came out on top for Week 5, securing 37 points for their Couple's Choice dance. Last night's episode also saw the return of Delta Goodrem who had to drop out last week.

Having recovered from her rib injury, Delta and partner Kai Widdrington danced the Rumba to 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' by Celine Dion, earning 34 points.

But the big news is that next week we will have Strictly’s first ever triple dance-off.

With 11 couples now left, the three couples with the lowest combined judges’ scores and public votes will dance again, before the judges will vote on which couple to send home.

Strictly's annual Halloween special will air at 6:30pm next Saturday with the results show airing on Sunday at 7.10pm on BBC One.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.

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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.