Strictly Come Dancing: Latest updates from Blackpool Tower Ballroom as celebrities and professionals waltz to seaside for week 9 of BBC collection

With just 20 minutes to go before kickoff, here are dances we can look forward to tonight. Note that couples may not appear in this order.

• Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe will bring the heat with a Salsa to Don’t Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston
• Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola will deliver a Couples’ Choice routine to Padam Padam by Kylie Minogue.
• Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Skorjanec will bring the drama in a Paso Doble to Torn by Nathan Lanier
• Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell will take on the American Smooth to Jump by Paul Anka.
• Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas will energise the ballroom with a Jive to The Ketchup Song (Aserejé) by Las Ketchup.
• JB Gill and Lauren Oakley will perform a Quickstep to Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley.
• Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał will add some cheekiness with a Cha Cha to I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred
• Wynne Evans and Katya Jones will perform a Charleston to Carmen Suite No. 1: 5. Les Toréadors by Georges Bizet.

Strictly typically heads to Blackpool each series in a week in November, although it missed out on the trip to the Tower Ballroom for the last two series, and on three occasions the final was held there.

But there was a logistical reason for heading to the nation’s premiere dance destination half way through the series.

It dates from when the show was filmed at Television Centre in west London – which also hosted the BBC’s annual Children in Need show in November, giving Strictly the perfect excuse to decant from its regular home and head North for the week.

TV centre has since closed and regular Strictly episodes are now broadcast from Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, but the mid-November pitstop stuck around.

Strictly celebrities have been pictured in Blackpool throughout the week as the show moves to the town’s legendary Tower Ballroom.

Alijaz Skorjanec and Tasha Ghouri arrive in Blackpool armed with coffees

JB poses for a picture with a fan outside the town’s Primark store

Jamie and Michelle dance on the promenade with a bag of chips

Wynne and Katya arrive in town after narrowly avoiding elimination last week

• Read more about how celebrities spent the week in Blackpool here

Before we look ahead to tonight’s dances, let’s recap last week’s leaderboard to remind you who’s waltzing into Blackpool in high spirits and who’s looking for a turn of fortune.

Here’s how things stood last week:

• Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec (8+10+10+9) = 37
• JB Gill and Lauren Oakley (9+9+9+10) = 37
• Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał (8+9+10+9) = 36
• Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe (9+9+9+9) = 36
• Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola (8+8+8+9) = 33
• Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell (7+8+9+9) = 33
• Wynne Evans and Katya Jones (7+8+8+9) = 32
• Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu (pictured) (7+8+7+8) = 30 – eliminated
• Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas (7+8+7+8) = 30

Nancy Xu has said she is ‘gutted’ that she and partner Shayne Ward will not being dancing at Blackpool as she opened up about their Strictly exit on Instagram on Sunday.

The professional dancer, said it is unfair that the X Factor singer received criticism throughout the BBC series because he had never danced before the show.

Shayne became the seventh celebrity contestant to be eliminated after a tense dance off with Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans, after failing to impress on Saturday with his rumba.

Read the full story by Bethan Edwards here:

Last week Shayne Ward’s journey on Strictly Come Dancing came to an end after he narrowly lost a dance-off against Wynne Jones. Here’s the moment judges made their decision.

Whose road will come to an end this weekend?

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of Strictly Come Dancing week nine as the show moves to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

The series is returning to the venue after a two-year absence.

The traditional pitstop comes usually around the midway point of the series with eight couples in the running for the Glitterball Trophy.

Last week, Shayne and Nancy waved farewell to the class of 2024 after the X-Factor singer and actor lost a dance off with Wynne Evans.

Two pairs, Tasha and Aljaž and JB and Lauren, topped the leaderboard last week but who will steal the limelight this week?

Join our live coverage for the latest developments throughout the evening plus the best pictures, videos and reaction from viewers at home.

Stay tuned!