Strictly Come Dancing’s Karen Carney and Carlos Gu tease “genius” showdance twist ahead of final

karen carney strictly come dancing

Strictly Come Dancing‘s Karen Carney and Carlos Gu have revealed an intriguing detail about their upcoming Showdance, set to be performed on the BBC One show’s grand final this weekend (December 20). Speaking on spin-off It Takes Two today, they teased how the routine to ‘Inner Smile’ by Texas will be especially poignant.

Speaking to Janette Manrara, Carlos revealed that he and Karen are once again working with choreographer Jake Leigh, with whom they previously worked on their Couples’ Choice to ‘Born This Way’ by Lady Gaga.

Carlos said: “There’s one moment that’s very special, actually. Our starting pose of the Showdance is the ending pose of Couples’ Choice.

“And our ending pose of our Showdance is our promo picture; the first picture we ever took together. That was amazingly thoughtful.”

karen carney carlos gu strictly come dancing

He added: “It’s come full circle. And it got me straight away. I was like, ‘Jake! You’re a genius!’”

Karen spoke about how resonant the song choice is, saying: “I’m a massive fan of Texas, and friends with Sharleen [Spiteri]. It’s such a great song.

“Strictly is about joy, and our aim is to always get people up and dancing at home and just have such a good time – it’s what we’re having.

“It’s such a banger of a tune and it’s been sped up. It’s so fast!”

The footballer and her pro partner are one of three remaining couples, competing for the Glitterball alongside Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, and George Clarke and Alexis Warr.

All three pairs will perform a Showdance, which is their chance to throw rulebooks out of the window and make a big plea for the trophy.

Amber and Nikita will set their Showdance to ‘Rain On Me’ by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, while George and Alexis will put theirs to the sound of ‘Human’ by The Killers.

Each couple will also revisit two dances from earlier in the series. One will be picked by them and the other by the judges.

Karen and Carlos’ own pick is their week one Jive, while the judges have tasked them with reprising their Argentine Tango.

Amber and Nikita will repeat their Paso Doble and Jive, while George and Alexis are going back to their Viennese Waltz and Paso Doble.