George Clarke has spoken out after finishing as runner-up in the 2025 Strictly Come Dancing final, saying the show helped him 'discover some self-belief'. The YouTuber and his professional partner Alexis Warr danced their way into Saturday night's final three but lost out to winners Karen Carney and Carlos Gu.
In a lengthy statement released on Sunday, December 21, George said the end of the series was 'a lot to process', adding, 'The journey is done and that's hard to come to terms with.' He described the last few months as 'a hell of an experience' before paying tribute to Alexis, one of the BBC show's newest professional recruits.
'Your pro is 99% of your process and I've had the best and most formative 4 months of my life so I think that shows how impactful she has been,' he wrote. 'She helped me discover some belief in myself, something that has really helped shaped me as a person not just as a dancer.'
His post attracted a huge amount of love from his new 'Strictly family', with outgoing co-host Claudia Winkleman adding four red heart emojis and judge Craig Revel Horwood commenting 'Well done George'. His partner Alexis also added, 'Georgey! love you so much, thank you! Let me know if you ever need a dance partner, I'll be there.'
George and Utah-born Alexis gave it their all in Saturday night's final, reprising their Paso Doble to Game of Survival by Ruelle, performing a Viennese Waltz to Somebody to Love by Queen, and a show dance to Human by The Killers. All three dances earned 39 from the judges, tying them with eventual winners Karen and Carlos, and one point behind fellow runners-up Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.
'I ended the night doing 3 wildly different dances, none of which I would've had a chance in hell at doing at the start of the competition,' George added. 'I've learned a lot about dancing, I've learned a lot about myself and it's something I'll never forget.' He also expressed hope to continue dancing in some capacity, though noted his body would 'be on standby until 2026'.
