Strictly Come Dancing Voting in 2026: How Online Votes Decide Who Faces the Dance-Off

No one was eliminated during the first live performance of Strictly 2026. There was no elimination that week, meaning all scores carried over into next week, but a week later, during Movie Week, the first celebrities left the competition. Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden became the first pair to go in the dance-off after losing out to Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu.

That’s why the Strictly Come Dancing voting is so fascinating. The programme has a brand new presenting panel, a changing rota of voting members and no phone line to vote on. Many viewers want to know how to vote, and how much their votes weigh. Here’s how it all works.

Strictly Come Dancing at a glance

Since the show is the subject here, these are the verified basics for series 24:

Show	Strictly Come Dancing, BBC One
Launch show	19 September 2026, with live shows beginning a week later
Presenters	Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe, who replaced Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman
Judges	Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke
Line-up	15 celebrity and professional couples at the start
Public voting	Online only, through a free BBC account

How Strictly Come Dancing voting works now: online only

Phone voting has been abolished. The BBC said that Eurovision 2025 was the final major BBC programme to have phone voting. There were two reasons, the BBC added. The vast bulk of votes in the last series of Strictly were already made online, and BT, which supplied the phone lines, was discontinuing its services in early 2025. Series 23 in 2025 was the first where it was not used, and this year is the same.

Watch out for guides from previous years that still list the use of phones. One of the more popular fan guides still includes what to say about voting by phone. That advice is outdated.

To vote, you need to:

Sign in to a BBC account before the show. You can also set one up if you haven’t got one. They’re free, and it’s quite a good idea to do that before Saturday night instead of when the programme is on.

Find the vote. Visit the official Strictly homepage by clicking here, or use the QR code displayed.

Wait for the window. The vote normally opens after the last dance at the end of the show. The show at the top of this page for a few seconds for you to have a look and see what dance they are doing, then click to vote.

Fan guides say the window stays open for around 25 minutes. That figure isn’t from the BBC, so rely on the announcement during the show.

How many votes do you get?

This is where some guides differ. The guide published 3 October 2026 states that viewers get five free votes. These can be allocated to separate couples or pooled into one, and may not be redistributed after being cast. Other guides recommend up to three votes, and one explainer suggests that no official number has been released by the BBC.

I suggest the on-screen counter, as this is what the voting rules are based on for the show in question. During this series, votes are accumulated by means of a plus sign next to each competitor and are then submitted with a “Submit” button.

What happens to your votes

Your votes don’t decide the result on their own. They go into a points system with the judges’ scores. Each judge scores out of ten. The couples are ranked by those scores, with the top-ranked couple getting points equal to the number of couples dancing that week. The public vote is ranked the same way, and the two sets of points are added together. The two couples with the fewest points land in the bottom two.

If two couples finish level, the points from the public vote take precedence. Your vote can therefore help a couple the judges ranked low, but it can’t replace the judges’ marks.

The dance-off and the casting vote

For the last two, it is the dance again on Sunday. As the sole determinant in the dance-off, each judge gets to indicate their choice for the pair they want in by number. The public can’t then vote for the couple to leave.

Another change from the last series is something that hasn’t happened this year. During the last series, it was not always the head judge who had the final say. It was different every week. The Series 24 notes format also says this was the case this year. That’s probably why Movie Week was so close. Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke all voted to save Jaime and Carlos, and Craig Revel Horwood said he would have done the same.

What the first two weeks tell us

The first week was a free-for-all. Scores from last week were carried over, but no one left, even though the leaderboard revealed how the couples were ranked. John Nellis and Katya Jones topped the leaderboard with 31 for a foxtrot, closely followed by Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington with 29. Chris and Amy received 16 for their tango.

However, a poor score doesn’t always kill contestants. Chris and Amy’s week-one points total was one of the lowest, and they went home in week two. Still, the combination system means a weak dancer with a loyal audience can make it through, and a good dancer with a less vocal fanbase can also end up in the bottom two. That’s the reality that makes the Sunday results show interesting.

The old “is it fixed?” question

Each year there’s some discussion about whether the public vote is accurate. In 2017, Craig expressed hope that the BBC would publish voting figures to prevent accusations of fixing. I haven’t seen any evidence that couple-by-couple totals are now revealed, so rankings remain confidential. If somebody is confident about the exact vote counts for 2026, they’re just guessing.

Practical tips

• Create your BBC account before Saturday, not when the window opens.
• Reload the home page if the vote does not show.
• Your votes can’t be changed after you submit. Review your selection before you submit.
• Don’t trust old guides that mention phone numbers or call charges.

The bottom line

Strictly Come Dancing is easier than it looks. You sign in, make your vote within the window, and your vote is combined with the judges’ scores to determine who dances for their life. The voting lines have disappeared, and the casting vote has moved from head to foot. This series has already demonstrated that a strong week one does not ensure safety and a weak one does not kill you, so each vote counts.

Celeb Writes