Despite all of this, Layton has turned up every week, giving his all on the dance floor, and it\u2019s safe to say that watching him tune out the haters each week and perform enthralling dances is just one of the reasons he will be a memorable Strictly finalist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Strictly is a TV show that excels because we watch a range of contestants<\/a> go through triumphs as well as tribulations as they try to avoid the dance-off. Its varying range of contestants, from complete novices to people who have danced before but have never done ballroom, helps us get invested in the show as we make weekly predictions on who will be knocked out and who will make it to the final. <\/span><\/p>\n Throughout its 21 seasons, Strictly has never been about only<\/em> novices learning to dance, but about teaching celebrities the art of ballroom dancing while providing us viewers with some light-hearted entertainment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Week-on-week, Layton has not only helped the show provide viewers with some light-hearted entertainment in the form of his spectacular dances \u2013 including the first perfect score of the series for his Moulin Rouge-themed Paso doble in Musicals Week<\/a> \u2013 but he has also contributed to breaking barriers on the show by becoming the first male celebrity to wear dresses and skirts in his routines, and by getting the world of glitter and sequins to discuss the emotional toll online hate has on people, as shown by Motsi Mabuse commending both Layton and his professional dance partner Nikita Kuzmin for \u201ccoming back, never losing yourself, always trying to push the boundaries, [and] always trying to bring something very different\u201d amidst all the negativity.<\/span><\/p>\n Layton\u2019s journey this season has shown that while many believe previous dance experience is an advantage, it can also be a downfall. Week 10 saw Layton in the bottom two and almost eliminated before judges chose to save him in a dance-off with Angela Scanlon<\/a> and Carlos Gu<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n Layton\u2019s lower position on the leaderboard<\/a> and dance-off reinforced that having experience in other dance styles is not always an advantage. It demonstrated there is a difference between musical theatre dancing, which you often do alone, and the softness of ballroom dancing with a partner. <\/span><\/p>\n What was even more thrilling about Layton\u2019s position in the bottom two was him not only being able to joke about it on <\/span>Twitter (which was recently rebranded as X)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>but also his determination to bounce back the following week, leading to him earning this season\u2019s first perfect score.<\/span><\/p>\n If you fail to see Layton\u2019s journey for the truly captivating watch that it is because Layton has danced professionally before, then you\u2019re missing out. Layton has proved his place in the final every week. It\u2019s clear he\u2019s progressed from week 1 to the final by putting in hard work. Dismissing his brilliant performances because of his background is unfair, and is also disrespectful to all the other contestants with previous dance experience who didn\u2019t make it half as far as he has.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Layton is not the first Strictly contestant to have dance experience. We\u2019ve had the likes of Kym Marsh, Ashley Roberts and Aston Merrygold with previous dance experience and none of them lifted the Glitterball. So, its clear that having previous dance experience doesn\u2019t guarantee success in Strictly, or even a place close to the final. In fact, <\/span>JLS singer Aston was eliminated sixth during the 15th season, and he\u2019s known for his dance skills. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s also not unusual for other dancing shows such as Dancing on Ice to have professional dancers involved. For example, in 2019, former Strictly professional dancer James Jordan won Dancing on Ice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite being centred in a world of glitter and fun, in which contestants can make the dances look easy, we\u2019ve seen year after year that it\u2019s not easy to stay near the top of the leaderboard every single week. It takes time and dedication to get out on the dance floor and prove you deserve a place in the Strictly final. It takes even more strength to do it after you\u2019ve been in the dance-off and in the face of online hate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s no doubt that even if Layton doesn\u2019t<\/em> win the Glitterball trophy this weekend, his time on the show has him going down in Strictly history for his incredible dance displays, dazzling presence and his tremendous courage to remain unapologetically himself.<\/span><\/p> The Strictly Come Dancing final airs on Saturday 16th January at 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n There\u2019s no doubt that even if Layton doesn\u2019t win the Glitterball trophy this weekend, his time on the show has him going down in Strictly history. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":41765,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/layton-williams-has-had-the-most-captivating-strictly-journey-and-deserves-place-in-final-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"There\u2019s no doubt that even if Layton doesn\u2019t win the Glitterball trophy this weekend, his time on the show has him going down in Strictly history.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/41764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Strictly](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/Layton-Williams-and-Nikita-Kuzmin-at-Blackpool-Tower-a25f5e6.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Layton-Williams-and-Nikita-Kuzmin-at-Blackpool-Tower\\"\/")
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