Strictly 2026 leaderboard to be revealed as celebrities face the judges for the first time

Based on the provided articles, here's a summary of what happened during the first live show of Strictly Come Dancing 2026:

• The presenting trio (Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe) introduced the judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
• The couples performed their routines for the first time on live television:
• Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin performed a samba to "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams and scored 22 points.
• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington received the highest score of the night, scoring 29 points with their Samba routine set to "Baiana" by Barbatuques.
• John Nellis and Katya Jones topped the leaderboard after their Foxtrot performance to Alex Warren's "Ordinary", earning a perfect score of 31 out of 30 possible points.
• Other notable performances included:
• Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola with 27 points
• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu with 26 points
• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley with 24 points

The scores from this first live show will carry over into the following week, as there are no eliminations at this stage of the competition. The judges' comments indicated that several couples showed promise in their routines, particularly John Nellis who received high praise for his elegance and sophistication.