Strictly Come Dancing: Leach continues to shorten for Saturday’s final against Williams and Brazier

With just hours to go until Saturday’s finale gets under way, Ladbrokes have cut the former Coronation Street star’s odds to just 1/12, making her clear favourite to go all the way.

Elsewhere, Layton Williams is her nearest challenger at 9/1, while former favourite Bobby Brazier heads into this weekend as the rank outsider at 18/1 in the Strictly Come Dancing betting odds.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “Ellie continues to pull away from the chasing pack in the race for this year’s Glitterball Trophy… we’d be amazed if her name wasn’t on it by close of play this weekend.”

Bobby Brazier saved by judges

Brazier had to come through a dance-off with former tennis player Annabel Croft to reach Saturday’s final.

Croft and Johannes Radebe performed a Viennese waltz in the style of Slow Moving Millie’s cover of Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths.

Soap star Brazier and dance partner Dianne Buswell performed their quickstep to Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin.

Judge Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Croft while Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and head judge Shirley Ballas opted to save Brazier.

Ballas said: “The semi-final 2023, I thought both couples were absolutely extraordinary, I felt that both couples lifted their performance, I thought there was technical qualities on both sides, improvements galore, but again one tiny mistake coming out of a pivot turn and therefore my decision would be to save Bobby and Dianne.”

Standing ovation for Williams

Williams and Nikita Kuzmin received a standing ovation from Craig Revel Horwood during the Strictly Come Dancing semi-finals.

This week, the couples performed two dances in a bid to make it to the final and win the Glitterball Trophy.

For their second dance, Williams, 29, and Kuzmin, 25, wore matching suits as they performed the Charleston to Fit As A Fiddle by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.

They made use of chairs, a ladder and umbrellas as they danced their way to a full 40 points.

Revel Horwood said the dance was “the best Charleston I’ve ever seen in twenty years.”

Judge Anton Du Beke told stage and TV actor Williams: “That’s the best thing you’ve ever done.”

The Bad Education star performed a front flip during the dance and in previous weeks he has executed a back handspring and performed on a pole.

Williams and Kuzmin cried and embraced following the judges’ scores.

Brazier and Buswell had kicked off the Strictly semi-finals with a quickstep to Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin and received 38 points.

Williams performed second on the show and his first dance was a rumba to Lift Me Up by Rihanna.

Revel Horwood said they brought “superb” emotion to the dance but Du Beke said “it was a little hard in places” and the duo received 36 points from the judges.

Croft then performed a salsa to You’ll Be Mine (Party Time) by Gloria Estefan and received a score of 32 with Radebe.

Leach laudeed by head judge Ballas

After this, Leach was told by Ballas that she had some “unique and beautiful leg actions” following her first dance.

She performed the cha cha cha to Mambo Italiano by Bette Midler with her dance partner Vito Coppola.

Du Beke described the dance as “absolutely beautiful” but Revel Horwood said it looked “a little bit too polite” and the pair were awarded 37 points from the judges.

Brazier and Buswell then danced a paso doble to Run Boy Run by Woodkid and were awarded 35 points from the judges.

Following the dance, judge Motsi Mabuse told Brazier that he had “convinced” her of his place in the final.

Croft’s second dance was a Viennese waltz to Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, in the style of Slow Moving Millie, originally by The Smiths.

Ballas told her she had “beautiful, natural turns” and the pair received 33 points.

The last dance was from Leach and Coppola who performed a couple’s choice to a Dua Lipa medley.

Revel Horwood described the dance as “feisty” and they were given 38 points from the judges.

Williams leads the way

At the end of the show it was revealed that Williams and Kuzmin had topped the leaderboard with an overall score of 116 points.

Leach was second on a combined 111 points, with Brazier in third on 107 and Croft fourth on 98, from the judges’ votes.

However, Croft was eliminated in the dance-off to leave Leach, Williams and Brazier competing in Saturday’s final.

Strictly Come Dancing: The Final will air live on Saturday December 16 at 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Ladbrokes’ Strictly Come Dancing betting odds:

Winner

Ellie Leach – 1/12
Layton Williams – 9/1
Bobby Brazier – 18/1

View the latest TV specials odds

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication