There was the usual torrent of seething, smouldering, eye-popping passion, a barrage of perfect scores and a return gallop by Ed Balls in his finest salsa-murdering suit. The final round of the 14th season of Strictly Come Dancing ended last night in a blaze of glitter, neon and nostalgia with the departure of its most popular judge and the surprise crowning of Ore Oduba, a 30-year-old BBC sports presenter, as Britain’s newest dancing king.
After 2¼ hours of hip-shaking, thigh-slapping multi-coloured mayhem, the pre-final odds were confounded when viewers voting by telephone awarded the coveted Glitterball trophy to Oduba and his professional partner, Joanne Clifton. “I’m so speechless. This has been the most incredible experience of my life,” said Oduba, reducing his partner to tears.
The pair kicked off with their American Smooth to Singin’ in the Rain and followed it with their show dance. Oduba finished with a jive.
To the surprise of many viewers, Oduba saw off a strong challenge from Danny Mac, a soap opera actor and the bookies’ favourite. Mac, the 28-year-old star of the Hollyoaks series, danced brilliantly with his partner, Oti Mabuse, but stumbled in his first dance, a quickstep.
The third finalist was Louise Redknapp, a former singer and wife of the ex-footballer Jamie Redknapp, who danced with Clifton’s brother, Kevin. After performing a cha-cha in a racy leotard, Redknapp was told by one of the judges: “That was scorching hot. You went all saucy on me.”
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Britain’s favourite sequined twirl-off also bade a fond farewell to Len Goodman, the BBC show’s 72-year-old dancemaster now bound for retirement. One of the presenters noted that Goodman, a former ballroom pro, was “a cup of tea in a world of skinny lattes”. There were hugs and tears all round.
With Balls briefly reprising his Gangnam Style salsa, it proved the most splendidly British of evenings, a joyously upbeat respite from months of national angst — “the most surprising, entertaining Strictly ever,” claimed Bruno Tonioli, the excitable Italian judge.
Not everyone was happy with the voting outcome — social media were quickly swamped with howls of “fix” and “bias” and suggestions that the BBC had engineered the voting to ensure that one of its own staff won. But the presenter Tess Daly summed up the general mood. There was “a little bit of everything for everybody”, she said of one of the showpiece dances.
The outcome had been in doubt until the winner was named, as top scoring 10s flowed like confetti from the judges’ table. Although Mac made an awkward mistake in his first dance, he seemed to have redeemed himself with a medley of dances that judges described as “a firework of passion . . . fabulously wild . . . moments of magic”.
Redknapp’s sensual tango earned her a perfect score from judges, whose votes did not count in the final ballot, but were presented as “guidance” for viewers. Several Twitter users claimed to have detected early on what one described as “judges bias towards Ore”.
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Goodman’s final appearance has excited frenzied speculation about who might succeed him for next year’s 15th season; who else might join the judging panel; and whether Strictly is facing, like Top Gear and the Great British Bake-Off before it, a change of regime it might not survive.
The favourite is Darcey Bussell, 47, the former Royal Ballet star who has been a judge since 2012. If she gets the nod — and the BBC has not ruled out bringing in someone new — there would still be a vacancy on the judging panel. There is also speculation that thanks to the popularity bounce Balls earned from his joyous cavorting, future contests may be inundated with applications. Nigel Farage has expressed an interest; Bussell has extended an open invitation to Boris Johnson.
For those who have likened the sweaty, flirty pyrotechnics of Strictly’s intensely physical performances to a PG form of “musical shagging”, there was plenty to ponder at last night’s show.
Redknapp’s husband, Oduba’s wife and Mac’s fiancée all beamed proudly from the sidelines as their partners strutted and swooped; for now, there seemed no sign of Strictly’s notorious romantic “curse”.