Yahoo News Strictly Come Dancing pro breaks World Record in show challenge
Strictly Come Dancing pro Lauren Oakley has broken a Guinness World Record during the show's annual Pro Challenge.
Appearing on tonight's (December 8) episode of It Takes Two, Lauren appeared alongside Nancy Xu as the final pros to take part in the challenge.
The challenge saw each Strictly professional tasked with performing a series of 'pendulum steps' — a ballroom step that requires the dancer to create a pendulum-like movement with their legs by swinging them horizontally to the body.
"I think my 30 years of experience has helped me and if not it, just shows that I've been practicing it wrong," Lauren said in a video clip before her result was revealed.
Related: Strictly pro Lauren Oakley shuts down trolls over "long hair" comments
Announcing their results, host Fleur East first revealed that both Nancy and Lauren both completed 15 pendulums within 30 seconds. However, as one of Nancy's steps was later disqualified, Lauren found herself the sole winner of the challenge and the new world record holder.
"What does that mean to you?" Fleur questioned the overjoyed dancer, to which an ecstatic Lauren replied: "So much! I can't believe it... I'm very excited about it."
"Thank you all for not getting 15," she later joked after being presented with the certificate by Fleur.
The final leaderboard saw Nancy, Nadiya Bychkova, Carlos Gu and Neil Jones all finish behind Lauren on 14 steps, while Dianne Buswell was the only professional to have had all of her steps disqualified.
Related: Strictly's Krishnan Guru-Murthy reveals surprise motivation before dance-off
Lauren was paired up with Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy during the 2023 series, with the pair becoming the seventh couple to be eliminated.
Following their exit, Krishnan praised an "incredibly talented" Lauren for her support on social media, writing: "She taught me with patience and trust, boosted me when I doubted, picked me up when I crumbled.
"When we met she said she had one aim: to make me love dance. She succeeded in week one. And somehow we made it to week eight."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Tickets for Strictly's 2024 live arena tour are available now.
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