‘Se-ven!’ How many times did Len Goodman deliver his trademark score on Strictly Come Dancing?

May 2, 2023

OHMYGOSSIP — Len Goodman awarded his famous “se-ven!” score 346 times on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The beloved ballroom expert died on Saturday (22.04.23) aged 78 at a hospice in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, surrounded by his family after a battle with bone cancer and since his passing there has been an outpouring of tributes from his co-stars and colleagues with Bruno Tonioli describing him as a “perfect 10”.
Len became famous on the BBC show for his catchphrases on the judging panel, and it has now been revealed just how many times he handed out his trademark paddle score.
Data-driven experts Whetstone Communications (Whetstonecomms.com) have gone deep into the data to tell the statistical story of Len’s time behind the famous desk and surprisingly seven was not the not the points tally he handed out the most.
Using publicly available data from the StrictlyDB database, the Whetstone team have crunched through data from 2,500 dances to reveal some new facts about Len’s legendary time on ‘Strictly’.
Although he gave out 346 sevens, his favourite score to give to the celebrities and their professional partners was an eight which he awarded on 391 occasions.
He gave out a nine 334 times and it was a “10 from Len” on 158 occasions, peaking in Season 12 when he awarded a total of 22 number 10s. Rachel Stevens and Ore Oduba got the highest number of 10s from Len receiving seven each in Series 6 and Series 14 respectively.
Other stats reveal that Len judged 1,570 dances across 14 series and his average score across his ‘Strictly’ career was 8 (7.67).
Len’s lowest ever score was a 3 and only once, to Quentin Wilson dancing a Cha Cha Cha to ‘Pink Cadillac’ in Series 2.
His ‘top’ professional for maximums was Kevin Clifton, who received 20 top scores, followed by Pasha Kovalev who received a 10 on 16 occasions.
Of all the dances he scored with a 10 or 9, tracks by crooners Frank Sinatra (16) and Nat King Cole (8) were most common (492 dances in total).
Dances to ‘Crazy in Love’ by Beyonce got 10s on three occasions from Len, twice in Series 5, once in Series 10 and also a nine from Len.
Routines to swing song ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ – made famous by Benny Goodman – scored 9s or 10s from Len on six occasions across three seasons; Series 2, 9 and 7.
The Charleston and Argentine Tango seem to be his most favoured dances styles, both securing 10s on 16 occasions.
Len’s final dance as a judge was on 17 December, 2016, when he gave Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse a 10 as part of a perfect 40 score.
Whetstone Founder Alex Waddington said: “‘Strictly’ is a Saturday night fixture in my house; it seemed fitting to dig into the data and tell the full story about Len’s time as a much-loved and admired judge.”
Len was one of the original judges when ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ launched in 2004 – a revamp of long-running BBC series ‘Come Dancing’.
He sat on the panel until 2016 when he quit after struggling with the travel schedule between the UK and the US for his judging role on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Len Goodman’s Strictly Come Dancing scoring:

10 – 158 times
9 – 334 times
8 – 391 times
7 – 346 times
6 – 219 times
5 – 107 times
4 – 14 times
3 – 1 times
2 – 0 times
1 – 0 times

TELEVISION & CINEMA