Strictly Come Dancing hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly made their eagerly awaited return to the BBC to introduce the panel of judges and fresh line-up of celebrity contestants. The show’s Saturday comeback kicked off with an impressive group number as the stars took to the dancefloor with their celebrity partners to open the competition. There was also a moment to pay tribute to Dani Dyer, who was forced to withdraw from the competition after a gruelling injury.

As the panel of head judge Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke took to their seats, former England rugby star Chris Robshaw opened the performances with a Samba to Unbelievable by EMF alongside his pro Nadiya Bychkova. However, as the stars put on their glitzy debuts and received their scores, a new favourite to win the show emerged. All 15 celebrities are vying for a place in the final and for a chance to lift the highly coveted Glitterball trophy. Yet, after the first love show, the odds have dramatically shifted with early frontrunners unexpectedly losing their places at the bookmakers.

According to the Online Casino provider Slingo, the first round of live shows has dramatically shaken up the odds market, with early frontrunners Vicky Pattison and Ellie Goldstein both slipping down the table.

Vicky now trails behind last-minute recruit Amber Davies at 7/1, while Ellie has drifted to 16/1 from her opening 5/1.

Meanwhile, social media star George Clark has emerged as the new favourite at 5/2, with strong online backing and a solid debut score of 24 fuelling his rise.

Football pundit Karen Carney has also made her mark, topping the leaderboard with her jive and climbing the market to 11/2 alongside partner Carlos, quickly winning over viewers at home.

George impressed viewers and the judges with his American Smooth to Stargazing by Myles Smith, which he performed with newcomer pro Alexis Warr.

They were awarded 24 points, tying with La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec. Meanwhile, Karen and Carlos topped the leaderboard with a record-breaking 31 points. While Vicky and Ellie were favourites before the show kicked off, they scored 23 and 17 respectively.

Amber, who joined with less rehearsal time than her co-stars, took to the dancefloor with Nikita Kuzamin for the Waltz and impressively landed in third place with 27.

Currently trailing at the bottom with a score of 10 is ITV’s LA correspondent star Ross King after performing the Cha Cha to Katy Perry’s California Gurls with his pro Jowita Przystał