More than 13 million people tuned in to watch the BBC sports presenter Ore Oduba defeat Louise Redknapp and Danny Mac in the Strictly Come Dancing finale, the show’s largest ever audience. The viewing figures cemented the 14th series of the programme as its most popular yet. One of the highlights was the dancefloor grace of Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor. Despite the judges’ contempt, he was a viewers’ favourite.
Strictly soared ahead of ITV’s The X Factor in the ratings this year but it failed to beat The Great British Bake Off, which had 14.8 million people watching when Candice Brown took the title.
While the cookery programme is changing channels, Strictly was saying its own goodbyes to Len Goodman, 72, the head judge.
The night, however, belonged to Oduba, who claimed to have not even danced at his own wedding. His win confounded the bookies, who put it down to 2016, the year of upsets.