Gymnast Louis Smith stormed to the top of the Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard as an evening of spooky routines dominated the dancefloor. The London 2012 medallist achieved this series' highest score during the Halloween-themed show as Italian judge Bruno Tonioli described his routine as "the first killer tango of the season".
Louis and his glamorous partner Flavia Cacace were awarded a top score of 35 points after transforming into a pair of zombies and dancing to Rihanna's hit single Disturbia. Judge Darcey Bussell awarded the duo nine points and said the Olympic star was "spookily good" and performed "the best tango of the night". Her fellow judge Len Goodman praised them saying he wanted "to turn the clocks back early" to watch the gymnast dance again and also gave the couple a score of nine.
The show also saw a dramatic turnaround for cricketer Michael Vaughan, who finished second on the leaderboard despite after nearly being eliminated last week. The former England star, who survived the dance off last Sunday against model Jerry Hall, dressed as a magician for his quick step routine to That Old Black Magic.
Craig Revel Horwood applauded the ex-sportsman following his performance, whilst Bruno said: "That was more than magical, it was a miracle."
After celebrating his 31 point score with dance partner Natalie Lowe, Michael, who captined England's 2005 Ashes-winning team, said: "we've worked really hard for all the weeks but this week we've lived on the dance floor." The dancing duo finished second on the leaderboard along with cyclist Victoria Pendleton and Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh.
Victoria, who had a shaky start to the series, performed with her partner Brendan Cole dressed as a corpse bride, just months before she is set to marry her sports-scientist love, Scott Gardner. The Olympic gold medalist dressed as a glamorous, goth-like character as she and Brendan danced a tango to Billy Idol's White Wedding.
But there was not such good news for Eastenders actor Sid Owen who was left at the bottom of the leaderboard following his Ghostbusters routine. His dance partner Ola Jordan only returned to rehearsals on Friday after taking a break and heading back to her native Poland to visit her mother, who has suffered a heart attack.West End star Denise Van Outen was unable to continue her table-topping success of the last two weeks following her dance to Rick James's song Super Freak with partner James Jordan. The mum-of-one scored 28 points from the judges and admitted to suffering with nerves before her routine.
Kimberley Walsh, who announced a comeback tour with Girls Aloud earlier this week, donned a red cape to dress as Little Red Riding Hood for her routine to Duran Duran's Hungry Like A Wolf with partner Pasha Kovalev. Australian judge Craig described the Yorkshire-born singer's routine as "fiery, punchy" with "fantastic shaping".And Craig himself couldn't resist taking part inthe seasonal episode, joining the dancers in their group performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller, much to the amusement of his fellow judges.The third contestant to leave the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing will be announced during Sunday night's show on BBC 1.
