Karen Carney and Carlos Gu won Strictly Come Dancing 2025, taking the latest Glitterball trophy in the competition. For readers tracking Who Won Strictly Come Dancing 2025, that puts them at the centre of a winners list that now stretches across 22 years and 23 couples since the first series began in May 2004.
Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole
Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole were the first winners in 2004, and their run still marks the template the show has used ever since: a final win, a trophy, and a place in the archive. They also landed the first perfect 10 on the show in week five, for their Samba to Love Is In The Air, before finishing 39 points ahead of Christopher Parker at the end of the series.
That gap matters because it shows how the result was settled by scoring, not sentiment. This is a competition built on judges’ marks and cumulative totals, so a winning pair has to do enough across the series to separate itself from the last finalist standing, not just deliver one polished dance on the night.
23 couples since 2004
The count now stands at 23 couples lifting the Glitterball trophy, even though the text also says it is listing the past 21 series winners. That mismatch is small on paper but important for anyone checking the record, because it means the headline number and the list length are not describing the same thing in the same way.
Natasha Kaplinsky’s later career is a useful reminder that Strictly winners do not stay in one lane for long. After the 2004 win, she presented the Six O'Clock and Ten O'Clock news on the, joined Channel 5 in 2008, moved to ITV in 2011, was appointed OBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to the Holocaust Commission, became vice president with Michael Sheen at the Royal Society for Public Health in October 2018, was named President for Barnardo's in July 2019, and took over as Chair of The Royal Ballet School in October 2024.
Karen Carney and Carlos Gu
Karen Carney and Carlos Gu now hold the place that Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole opened in 2004, with the 2025 title sitting inside a run that has already produced 23 winning partnerships. The next champion will be crowned when the 2026 series runs through to Christmas, and the only missing detail here is the dance or final result that settled Carney and Gu’s win.
