Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke was brought to tears by Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec’s show-stopping American Smooth during Saturday night’s show (23 November).
The pair performed a moving routine filled with intricate lifts to Lewis Capald’s “Someone You Loved”, which Škorjanec dedicated to his young daughter.
The pair were intent on scoring full marks after receiving 39 in Blackpool last week – and their dreams were actualised when they received the first perfect 40 score of this year’s series.
Judge Mosti Mabuse called the dance “perfection”, while Shirley Ballas simply said she was “speechless”.
Meanwhile, Du Beke was moved to tears by the routine, and said it reminded him about the essence of “why we dance”.
The sentiment was echoed online, with fans writing on X/Twitter that they had been left emotional by the heartwarming routine.
“Aljaz, Tash AMAZING 10s all round,” said one fan, as another added: “Tasha is such an amazing dancer, I’ll never get bored of her and Aljaz.”
Another called Ghouri “beyond incredible”.
The dance was so well-received by judges that even judge Craig Revel Horwood – who is notoriously a harsh marker – gave the dance a rare 10.
“FINALLY a flash of Craig’s 10 paddle! So well deserved and so glad Tasha was the first to score 40,” said one viewer online.
However, some viewers have claimed Ghouri has an “unfair advantage” due to her previous dance experience.
Before she became a finalist on the 2022 season of Love Island, the 26-year-old trained as a dancer at Creative Academy in Slough and has competed at major dance events. She specialises in commercial, which is a broader style of dance popularly seen in music videos or on stage at music tours.
But Ghouri’s fans have been defending the dancer, stating there’s a huge difference between commercial and ballroom styles.
“I’m so bored of the trained dancer talk,” said one viewer. “It’s the same every year! Yes, Tasha has a level of experience that the others don’t have but she’s not ballroom experienced. I don’t understand how people don’t get the difference!”
Speaking to The Independent ahead of the new series, Ghouri explained that she was anticipating criticism about her dance training, but said that the technique required for ballroom dance completely contrasts the training she received at dance school.
“Commercial dance is very different to ballroom dance and latin, I’m still having to strip down and relearn, even walking in cha cha step is weird to me – you have to turn out your feet and lead with your hips, so it’s based on muscle memory,” she said.
