Strictly Come Dancing this year has come through with plenty of surprises, from tense dance-offs to the shock exit of La Voix following an injury.

The latest Strictly curveball? A new 'relay' challenge, which was announced yesterday by the BBC but had been teased in the run-up.

Opening Saturday's night's musical-themed episode, the contestants and their dancing partners will take to the floor for a special five-minute performance.

The routine will start and end with all couples dancing together, before the duos break out into back-to-back routines set to songs from iconic musicals like My Fair Lady and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Here's the full list of what the duos will be dancing to:

  • Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin - Trip A Little Light Fantastic from Mary Poppins Returns
  • Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon - With A Little Bit Of Luck from My Fair Lady
  • George Clarke and Alexis Warr - Consider Yourself from Oliver!
  • Karen Carney and Carlos Gu - Flash Bang Wallop from Half A Sixpence
  • Lewis Cope and Katya Jones - Me Ol' Bamboo from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Sounds fun, right? Well, the fan reaction has been a bit, shall we say, divided.

This is mostly due to the fact that the performance won't be marked, and the celebs won't receive scores. This has led fans to consider whether the relay is a 'challenge' per se.

"Sounds interesting, but not sure what the point is without extra scores, just making them learn more stuff for no reason," wrote one fan on X.

Comments under the post appeared to agree, with a fan writing: "it’s literally just taking away from rehersal [sic] time it’s so strange"

Another fan took to TikTok, exclaiming: "It's not a challenge though, is it?"

Her commenters were quick to agree, with one person labelling the relay "pointless".

On the Strictly Reddit page, a fan questioned whether the challenge was useful, noting: "I’m not sure I completely get the point, but it’ll be fun I guess".

However, despite these concerns from fans, we're personally pretty excited to see what the challenge will bring to the show. Strictly has been running for many successful years and it's great to see how the producers keep the show fresh so that the magic can continue.

Let's see what fans say after the show comes out on Saturday...