BBC Strictly Come Dancing viewers ask 'what is going on' after spotting change minutes into show

Strictly Come Dancing has returned with its second live show of the series with 15 couples set to take to the dancefloor. The 20th anniversary series of the BBC dance contest kicked off last weekend (September 21) with a brand new batch of celebrities hoping to waltz away with the Glitterball trophy.

Saturday night (September 28) will see the public votes decide the contestants' fates for the first time this series, with the judges scores carried over from last week. At the top of the leaderboard last week was JB Gill and his professional dance partner Amy Dowden with a score of 31, whilst Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones sat at the bottom with 12.

But ahead of the contestants' performances, eagle-eyed viewers noticed a change to the show's usual format prompting several complaints. The show usually starts with an introduction to welcome its hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman whilst the Strictly intro song plays out, but tonight's entrance was very different.

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Instead, Claudia and Tess were already on stage as they addressed viewers - and fans watching at home took to X formerly Twitter to point out the difference.

@AutumnBlue44 wrote: "No Tess and Claude intro and then the dancer introduction has a song?! What’s going on? #Strictly," as @lil_louloubelle asked:" Is #Strictly live tonight? Bit of an odd start with Tess and Claude on stage straight away?."

Noticing a change to the theme song, @ClaireyWestside also said: "Why have they changed the opening so Claudia and Tess aren’t walking on and the contestants are coming down the stairs to a random pop song? Nope. Change it back immediately #Strictly."

@Brekkietweets wrote: "So they've cut Tess and Claudia's intro too. They need to be careful - cutting these little things risks taking a little bit of the polish off #strictly - we saw that happen with DoI leaving the show feeling less refined. It's not like the running time has been cut either

@Joe271101 also said: "Poor production - no intro to Tess & Claudia, no theme tune for the celebs. #Strictly," as @moranless noted: "Why are Claudia and Tess just *there*? Why did they not get an intro? Why was there no pro dance to start? I'm not happy about any of this #strictly."

@eastendrose_ also asked: "different music? tess and claudia not walking out at the start? what is going on #strictly."