Strictly Christmas Special star receives ‘greatest gift’ after achieving full marks

With another year comes another sparkly Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, and 2025’s champion has officially been crowned. TV star Scarlett Moffatt lifted the Christmas trophy alongside her professional partner Vito Coppola after delivering a show-stopping performance that earned them a perfect score.

The former Gogglebox favourite clinched the title after dancing a Cha Cha to Cher’s ‘DJ Play A Christmas Song’, impressing the judges enough to secure full marks. Their festive 40 was then combined with the studio audience vote, sealing their victory on the night.

Scarlett Moffatt reacts to her Strictly Christmas Special win

Speaking to co-host Tess Daly after the result, Scarlett could barely contain her excitement. “This is amazing! I feel like I should have prepared a speech!” she laughed, before continuing. “This is honestly the greatest gift that could have ever happened at Christmas. We’ve all just had the best time!”

Speaking about the training, Scarlett previously said: “I’ve never moved this much! My favourite position normally is seated, but I have honestly loved it. It’s fun finding out that you’ve got muscles that you didn’t know you had. That’s been quite cool. It’s made me feel so proud, because Vito will show me a move, and I think there’s no way on this earth that I can do that, and then after a while, I’m like “Oh, I can do it!”. So there’s a big sense of pride.”

There was festive cheer all round as all six celebrity couples took to the dancefloor, with even the judges embracing the Christmas spirit as they handed out their scores.

Alongside Scarlett, this year’s line-up included comedian Babatunde Aléshé, who was paired with Nancy Xu, singer Brian McFadden with Michelle Tsiakkas, Jodie Ounsley (aka Gladiators’ Fury) with Neil Jones, All Saints star turned cook Melanie Blatt with Kai Widdrington, and EastEnders star Nicholas Bailey with Luba Mushtuk.

The Strictly Christmas Special Scoreboard

Everything was still to play for heading into the final scoreboard, with just five points separating the lowest and highest scores.

Babatunde and Nancy scored 35 for their Charleston to ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ by Bing Crosby, while Mel and Kai scored 36 for their American Smooth to ‘Santa Baby’ by The Pussycat Dolls.

© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy

Jodie and Neil followed closely with 37 for their Street Commercial to ‘Red Christmas’ by Kylie Cantrall (from Descendants: The Rise of Red), while Brian and Michelle scored 39 for their Jive to ‘Run Run Rudolph’ by Kelly Clarkson and Nicholas and Luba earned 39 for their Viennese Waltz to ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year’ by Andy Williams. 

Once again, Scarlett and Vito came out on top, finishing the night with a flawless 40 for their winning Cha Cha to Cher’s ‘DJ Play A Christmas Song’. 

What else happened in the Strictly Christmas Special?

As tradition dictates, the Christmas Special opened with a festive group routine – this time to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Grown Up Christmas List’ and ‘We Need A Little Christmas’ from the musical Mame. 

© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy

For the closing number, the celebrities and professional dancers returned to the floor for a joyful routine to ‘Happy Holiday / Let Yourself Go’ from White Christmas, before being joined by the Strictly judges. The emotional finale ended with hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman delivering their final “Keeeeep dancing!” together.

Tess and Claudia’s last Strictly

This year’s Christmas Special also marked a particularly poignant moment for long-serving hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who each received a special send-off as they bowed out of the show.

© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy

Tess was honoured with an Argentine Tango performed with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec, while Claudia was surprised by the show’s musical director Dave Arch, who recreated Andrew Lincoln’s iconic Love Actually moment using cue cards, including one that read: “To me you are perfect”.

The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.