BBC Strictly Come Dancing suffers figures blow despite winner Chris McCausland making show history
Strictly Come Dancing’s 2024 finale saw a decline in viewership, with peak audience figures dropping to 9.3 million compared to last year’s 9.7 million.
The BBC’s flagship dancing competition, which crowned comedian Chris McCausland and professional partner Dianne Buswell as champions on Saturday evening, attracted an average of 8.6 million viewers.
This marks a continued downward trend for the show, which has experienced falling ratings for the third consecutive year.
McCausland, 47, made history as the show’s first blind contestant to lift the coveted glitterball trophy.
The comedian and actor, who lost his sight completely by age 22 due to retinitis pigmentosa, dedicated his win to partner Buswell and “for everyone out there that thought and got told they couldn’t do something.”
The victory marked a first-time win for professional dancer Buswell, who had previously reached the final with Joe Sugg in 2018 and Bobby Brazier in 2023.
The finale’s viewing figures show a clear decline, with the 2024 peak audience of 9.3 million falling short of 2023’s 9.7 million viewers.
Average viewership also dropped from 8.8 million in 2023 to 8.6 million this year.
The downward trend was evident from the start of the series, with the 2024 launch episode attracting just 7.1 million viewers, significantly lower than the previous year’s 7.8 million.
Despite the declining figures, Strictly remains dominant in its time slot, according to industry sources.
“Strictly is still the most watched programme on a Saturday night — getting double the viewers of its nearest ratings rival,” a source told The Sun.
The same source noted that while catch-up viewing is increasing, fewer viewers are choosing to watch the show live on Saturday nights, moving away from what the BBC had prized as a “shared experience.”
The 2024 series faced several controversies, including allegations of bullying against Amanda Abbington by professional dancer Giovanni Pernice.
The BBC investigated 16 complaints from Abbington, clearing Pernice of ten allegations while upholding some claims of verbal bullying and harassment.
Further controversy emerged when dancer Graziano Di Prima admitted to kicking his partner Zara McDermott during training sessions.
In response to these incidents, the BBC has implemented new welfare measures, including the presence of chaperones in rehearsal rooms.
McCausland’s partner Buswell penned a sweet post to her partner on her Instagram to mark the show’s moment in history, and the personal victory for her.
It read: “Chris started this show not having any idea at ALL about any of it! I wasn’t just teaching Chris the dances I was explaining everything that was also going on around us and as you know there’s a lot that goes on visually with strictly. it blew my mind even more when I actually started to explain things out loud I had so much more appreciation for everything.
“My teaching style was 90 per cent visual I wouldn’t want to teach in a room without mirrors because it was the way I perfected things. With Chris, we had to find different ways of making it work.
“And this is what Chris is brilliant at he is a problem solver and he taught me to think outside the box. Just because there’s an obstacle in the way doesn’t mean you can’t get to the destination successfully.
“I am forever grateful for the friendship I have gained in such an incredible person he says I changed his life but likewise I see things in a different way now and I’m forever grateful.” (sic)