Nine bombshell Strictly live moments - Dianne's baby bump and twist to 'frosty' audience

Strictly Come Dancing quickstepped onto our screens with a bang last night, peppered with surprises none of us saw coming. Lioness Karen Carney's Jive at breakneck speed? Ross King's glam girlfriend in the audience? Stars already in tears on week one? What a show!

After a bit of a rocky start for the BBC show with two stars already forced to pull out and the endless controversies surrounding Apprentice star Thomas Skinner, bosses clearly wanted to go all guns blazing with the first live show.

Missed the show last night or just swept away by the dancing? Don't worry, we've got you covered - here's everything you might have missed...

• How Strictly's Shirley Ballas really reacted to judging twist that takes away her power
• Joe Sugg's sister Zoella accused of 'sabotaging' baby announcement with Dianne Buswell

Beaming Dianne Buswell shows off baby bump

While some of us pregnant women can barely walk to the loo, Dianne performed a Foxtrot live to millions on Saturday night with Neighbours legend Stefan Davies. A true inspiration, Dianne looked absolutely glowing as she wore a light blue flowing dress that showed off her small baby bump.

The couple won over the judges with their sweet dance to the Neighbours theme song, scoring an impressive 22 points. Dianne was then surprised by the rest of the cast with a 'baby shower' brought about by Neil Jones dressed as a stork.

She told her co-stars: "I love you all so much and thank you for being so supportive."

Brutal judges voting twist

The BBC's announcement about a huge change to the results show sparked shock among fans.

At the end of the first live show, hosts Claudia and Tess revealed that the power is no longer only in Shirley Ballas' hands. For the last seven years, head judge Shirley has been responsible for the gruelling decision of choosing which couple in the bottom two should leave if the votes are tied after the dance off.

However, now it's been announced that the power is going to be shared between the four judges, with a different judge holding the power each week.

The change will start from next week, when the first couple will be eliminated from the series. As of yet, Strictly aren't revealing which judge has the power...

Gladiator Harry Aikines-Aryeetey breaks down in tears

Salt-N-Pepa's Push It! probably isn't the first song you'd think of sparking a teary reaction to, but charming Gladiator Harry Aikines-Aryeetey began to get choked up as he reminisced about his difficult year.

Harry - aka Nitro - had performed the notoriously challenging Cha Cha Cha with pro partner Karen Hauer before collapsing into tears afterwards. Speaking to presenter Tess Daly, he went on to say how he had "dreamt of this moment" after suffering a devastating injury.

"This time last year, I didn't think I would be able to do anything like that. So I'm a bit emotional," he said. "I've dreamt of that moment, even at Christmas I wasn't 100% but I'm here and 100%."

Fans had nothing but support for the Gladiator, with one tweeting: "Harry actually defines 'adorable'. No reason big blokes can't dance. #Strictly #SCD."

Harry ended up scoring 19 after the judges criticised his timing issues.

Ross King's glam girlfriend

Fans got a shock on Saturday night when Ross King's very glamorous girlfriend was seen in the audience for the very first time.

After the Lorraine correspondent performed the Cha Cha Cha with pro partner Jowita Przystał, Ross revealed he had flown 5,000 miles from Hollywood to the UK to take part in the show, with his girlfriend flying with him.

"It's so lovely that my girlfriend flew all the way, 5000 miles. I said, 'come tonight Bridget,' because there might not be too many of these,'" as she was seen laughing in the audience. His sister Elaine was also there cheering him on.

Despite the cheers from his girlfriend and sister, the judges weren't as convinced, giving the pair the lowest score of the night, with Craig describing it as "very awkward".

Unfortunately, he only scored 10 from the judges, with Craig and Shirley giving him a disappointing 2.

Ross' relationship with girlfriend Bridget comes after his divorce from second wife Brianna Deutsch. The couple tied the knot in 2015, and quietly separated seven years later. His first wife was Charley King who he was married to from 1999 until 2006.

Karen Carney's incredible Jive

Footballers have long had a bad rep on Strictly - but that was certainly not the case on Saturday night.

Karen Carney shot to the top of the leaderboard last night after pulling off a truly epic routine to Blondie's One Way Or Another, which had host Tess Daly asking "what just happened".

Any fan of the show will know how incredibly challenging the Jive is technically and to do it on the first week is pretty tough. Yet Karen and pro partner Carlos Gu knocked it out of the park, with head judge Shirley Ballas branding it "sensational" and the "best dance of the night".

The pair scored a jaw-dropping 31 points (three eights and a seven from Craig). She's also made history as the first footballer to sit at the top of the leaderboard - the last time that happened was 18 years ago.

Fellow ex-footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink also did incredibly well on Saturday night, managing to nab the third spot with an impressive score of 27.

Strictly's last minute replacements jump to the top

Despite Emmerdale star Lewis Cope having mere weeks to prepare for Strictly and Amber Davies literally 24 hours, the pair wowed on the dancefloor on Saturday night.

Amber was drafted in very last minute to replace Dani Dyer, who suffered an injury last week which forced her out of the competition.

While she is in musical theatre, Amber admitted she had no ballroom or latin experience as she was thrown into learning her routine just hours before the live show.

Paired with Nikita Kuzmin, she performed a Waltz to Adele's When We Were Young - and afterwards the couple were clearly hugely relieved. "I didn't think this would be my Saturday night," Amber admitted when she headed over to the judges.

The couple were highly praised considering they had such a limited amount of time to practise, receiving three sevens and a six from Anton, who said he would judge her on how she performed so as to be fair to the rest of the couples. However, he added that she had "huge potential".

Fans did, however, notice that Amber was missing from the opening credits as production hadn't had the time to add her in.

Her scores saw her rise to joint third with Jimmy, while Emmerdale star Lewis and partner Katya Jones managed to nab one more point with an impressive 28.

Lewis was drafted in to replace Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn, who was forced to withdraw from the show on medical grounds. Like Karen Carney, Lewis impressed with his action-packed Jive - though Shirley suggested it was "overloaded" with too much choreography. Craig simply called it "very good".

Nikita's heartbreaking confession

After performing with Amber Davies, Nikita's relief was clear to see on his face after a whirlwind week in the lead-up to Strictly. Nikita had been delighted to pair up with Dani Dyer, so her injury had left him not only gutted, but worried about his future on the show.

Speaking to Claudia Winkleman with Amber by his side, he confessed: "Frankly, I was unemployed for two days and I cleaned my house seven times and applied for a Tesco Clubcard!" As the cast laughed, he turned to Amber and told her: "So thank you, you saved me from all of that, you are incredible."

Claudia's hilarious response to a live TV blunder

There really couldn't be a more perfect host for the backstage segment than Claudia Winkleman.

Ever the pro, Claudia's quick-wittedness make for amazing TV even when things inevitably go wrong live on air. After speaking to EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal and her partner Julian Caillon, Claudia turned it over to Tess.

After a brief awkward moment of silence, Claudia quipped: "No, not yet. It's not time yet, there's no rush." As the cast laughed behind her, Claudia gestured for Balvinder to come closer to her.

Holding her hand, Claudia awkwardly said in a Bridget Jones-esque manner: "Tell me more how your week was." As everyone laughed again, Claudia insisted: "Everything is fine. I just want you to relax... This is good."

Suddenly, she turned back to the camera: "Oh, now it's time but I enjoyed this! We should do this again. Cool. Tess!"

'Frosty' audience reaction to Thomas Skinner

Thomas Skinner's Paso Doble didn't quite go off with the bang he had hoped after a very controversial month for the reality TV star.

Just hours before his live performance with beloved pro Amy Dowden, the Apprentice personality posted a defiant Instagram post in the wake of his affair and Covid-load scandals.

The 34-year-old businessman and TV personality took to Instagram on Saturday morning, sharing a video of his pre-show workout as he geared up for week one of routines on Strictly Come Dancing. Alongside the clip, he wrote, “HAPPY SATURDAY!!! LIVE SHOW DAY!! TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO!! LOVE YOU ALL. BOSH.”

Yet, despite a dramatic start for the couple, who dressed in black and performed to Without Honour or Humanity by Hotei, he struggled to impress the judges or audience. He scored a 2 from Craig, who slammed it as "more tin-soldier than it was matador".

Fans watching from home also noticed the frosty audience reception to Thomas, with one tweeting: "Screaming at the audience silence when Thomas came out at the start #Strictly." While another commented: "Yikes, that audience is cold AF to Thomas Skinner. You can feel that atmosphere through the TV."

*Strictly continues next Saturday on BBC One

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