Ballando con le Stelle 2026: Matri and Giada Lini win week four, Ghini eliminated

Ballando con le Stelle, the Italian adaptation of the Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars format, broadcast its fourth live episode of the 2026 season on Saturday 24 October on Rai 1, according to Italian broadcaster and press coverage of the show. The programme is hosted by Milly Carlucci and is now filmed at Rai's Saxa Rubra studios, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano, which also reported that the current edition premiered on 3 October 2026 with 13 celebrity-and-professional couples.

Who won and who was eliminated

Alessandro Matri, a former Italy national team striker, and his professional partner Giada Lini won the evening's standings with a score of 73 points out of a possible maximum, earning a 20-point bonus carried into the following week, according to entertainment site Davide Maggio. Actor Massimo Ghini and dancer Valentina Fiorini finished last with 18 points and were eliminated after a tie-break playoff against TV presenter Jimmy Ghione and his partner Anastasia Kuzmina, who received only 14% of the audience vote in that runoff, per the same source.

Other couples near the top of the table included Ornella Muti with Pasquale La Rocca, Noemi Bocchi with Giovanni Pernice, and actress Monica Guerritore with Luca Urso, all of whom received scores in the high 40s to 90s once weekly bonus points were added, according to Davide Maggio and Libero.

The scores, couple by couple

Each couple is marked by a panel of judges out of 10 points per judge; totals below, as reported by Davide Maggio, include bonus "tesoretto" points awarded for some couples that week.

The cha-cha-cha performed by newcomer couple Andy Diaz and Gioia Giovanatti received positive comments from the judges and totalled 44 points, according to Davide Maggio.

Tension on the judging panel

During Noemi Bocchi's charleston, judge Guillermo Mariotto compared her performance to that of television personality Bianca Guaccero; choreographer Giovanni Pernice objected, which led to a heated on-air exchange in which Mariotto threatened to score the couple zero and told Pernice to be quiet, according to Davide Maggio and Libero. Judge Barbara d'Urso also faced criticism from fellow panel members Simona Ventura and Francesca Fialdini, who said her comments on Ornella Muti's performance were contradictory, according to Davide Maggio.

Actress Monica Guerritore was visibly emotional after receiving high marks, with Libero describing the moment as a comeback for her following unspecified events from the previous summer; no further detail on those events was provided in the reporting reviewed.

Background: a new season, new pairings

Ballando con le Stelle first aired on Rai 1 on 8 January 2005 and is based on the format behind Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars, according to Wikipedia. Milly Carlucci has hosted the programme throughout its run. For the 2026 edition, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported a renewed judging panel and the season's relocation to Rai's Saxa Rubra studios, alongside five newly introduced professional dancers partnered with celebrities including actress Monica Guerritore, TV personality Riccardo Rossi, actor Massimo Ghini, actress Anna Safroncik and singer-dancer Andy Diaz.

One of the season's storylines involves Alessandro Matri's wife, model and TV personality Federica Nargi, who competed on the show herself in 2024 and finished third with professional partner Luca Favilla, according to Adnkronos. In the video that announced Matri's participation, Nargi was shown trying, unsuccessfully and humorously, to teach her husband dance steps including the jive, according to Adnkronos.

What happens next

With Massimo Ghini and Valentina Fiorini eliminated, 12 couples remain in competition heading into the following week. Alessandro Matri and Giada Lini, as this week's top scorers, carry a 20-point bonus into the next episode, according to Davide Maggio's reporting of the standings.