EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick wins Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special

Actor Jamie Borthwick has been crowned the winner of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.

The EastEnders star and professional partner Nancy Xu wowed judges and the studio audience with their Quickstep before lifting the Strictly Silver Star trophy.

Borthwick, 29, said: “This is great, it’s been a wonderful experience, but we’re all winners here. This show is magic.”

His competition on this year’s special included BBC Breakfast presenter Sally Nugent, historian Dan Snow, rugby union player Danny Cipriani, The Teacher actor Tillie Amartey and Sugababe Kiesha Buchanan.

This year’s edition was hosted by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, with judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke, and Head Judge, Shirley Ballas.

The special started with a group routine to a festive medley of It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, featuring the celebrities and their professional partners.

Each couple then took to the dance floor to perform their individual seasonal routines.

Borthwick performed a quickstep to Shakin’ Stevens hit Merry Christmas Everyone, which received 40 points from the judges.

Head judge Shirley Ballas said of the performance: “If I could jump over this bar and quickstep around the room I would do it with you! I don’t have a paddle high enough for you.”

Anton du Beke: “You were a surprise and a delight. Magnificent!”

Craig Revel Horwood said Borthwick had “sleighed” him, with Motsi Mabuse commenting it was “a perfect end”.

The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.