PICTURES: Local sellout Strictly Come Dancing show captivates the audience

The Assembly Rooms was at full capacity as an excited audience waited in anticipation to watch Wick's version of Strictly Come Dancing last Thursday.

Returning after three years, the sellout show – a fundraiser for Friends of the North Baths – generated a fantastic atmosphere and certainly did not disappoint all those who went along to watch it.

John Glen was the compere and he kept the audience entertained between dances. The judges for the evening were Allan Bruce, Marney Bruce, Kelly Davidson and Ali Glen.

Six pairs of contestants took part, and all were hailed as "amazing" in their own right, with brilliantly choreographed routines making the judges' decision difficult.

Dance partners Ryan Edwards and Michelle Robertson, and Dariusz Sapalski and Catherine Patterson both received a full house of 10 points from each judge making them the finalists. After dancing their routine again, the audience voted on which pair they wanted to win.

The previous local strictly champions – Morven Coghill and Mark McCoustra – performed their winning dance routine from 2019 while the votes were counted.

Dariusz and Catherine were then announced as the winners to a rapturous audience, and the fellow contestants were also delighted with the winning routine which had a mix of rhumba and salsa combined with some beautiful ballet moves. The performance was described as "captivating".

The evening ended with the finalists all taking to the dance floor along with many members of the audience.

The other contestants who took part were Alan Plowman and Abbie Gunn, David Shearer and Davina Lyall, Gary Morris and Jennifer Martin, and Alastair Ferrier and Anne Cormack.

Entertainment was also provided by Addie Harper, Andrea Cormack and Ali Glen. The show seemed to be the talk of the town and everyone felt it had been a wonderful evening.

The Friends of the North Baths also hosted a festive family fun quiz in the Assembly Rooms on the Tuesday night (December 27), and between the two events around £5500 has been raised, however some raffle ticket money is still to come in.

All the proceeds will go towards repair work at the popular outdoor pool.

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