John Whaite and Johannes Radebe top 'Strictly' leaderboard with passionate Argentine Tango

John Whaite and Johannes Radebe have topped the week 10 Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard with a passionate Argentine Tango that took the dance back to its all-male roots.

They are competing as the first ever all-male pairing in the BBC One contest and were praised tonight for a near-perfect routine that was historically accurate and catapulted them to the top of the scores with 39 points.

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Whaite and Radebe, who have done particularly well in the more intense dances, wowed the judges and viewers with their steamy routine that included a number of daring lifts.

Hard-to-please judge Craig Revel Horwood, the only person to score them nine for the routine rather than 10 points, said: "It was fantastic seeing the Tango done in its original form.

"I'm talking about way back to 1860, over 160 years ago it was first danced by two men and it was about being locked in symbolic mortal combat and that's exactly what you did tonight, I loved it."

Anton Du Beke told them it was up there with their Pirates of the Caribbean-themed Paso Doble from earlier in the series, while head judge Shirley Ballas added: "They're back! Fab-u-lous."

Guest judge Cynthia Erivo, filling in for Motsi Mabuse who came into contact with someone with COVID earlier in the week, said: "I was crazy for it, this was gorgeous."

The judges in the studio weren't the only impressed viewers, though, as Whaite was emotional to receive a message of support from Mary Berry who judged his Great British Bake Off win in 2012, propelling him to stardom.

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Appearing in a video, Berry said: "John, I knew that you were a star baker, but gosh you've done brilliantly on Strictly. I'm very, very proud of you and good luck in the rest of the competition."

Talking about his new approach to training this week, Whaite said: "It's me and (Radebe) and nothing else matters. I feel like I've been reborn."

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