The BBC have revealed the viewing figures for Saturday night’s Strictly Come Dancing launch show – and the numbers are concerning.
The long-running dancing competition returned for its 22nd season on Saturday night as 15 famous faces met their dance partners for the first time.
Paul Merson was told that he and Karen Hauer would be dancing to Fat Les’ Vindaloo in week one (because of course), Craig Revel Horwood revealed a dramatic and dashing new look, and, most importantly, the incredible Amy Dowden returned to the Strictly line-up.
But despite the introduction of those famous faces, the viewing figures from the opening night took a massive hit compared to the launch show from 2023, resulting in the broadcaster’s ‘worst fears’ coming true.
5.7 million people tuned in on Saturday evening, which is down a million from last year and down by more than three million since the ratings boom back in 2020.
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The last time Strictly had so few viewers was the weekend that Queen Elizabeth II died and the show was moved to Friday night at the last minute – 5.6 million people tuned in on that occasion.
A TV insider told The Sun: ‘The Beeb’s worst fear was the scandal proved a turn-off for viewers, and that seemed to come true on Saturday night.
‘Even with the extra people watching to see if Tess and Claudia said anything, it was a pretty disappointing figure for the launch show.
‘Now they’ll be hoping and praying there’ll be an upturn once the live shows start next week, and then the celebrities start getting voted off the week after.’
Despite the low ratings, however, there were several light-hearted moments during Saturday night’s launch show that proved a massive hit among viewers.
It was comedy that cut through to the viewers at home, with some calling the move to put Chris McCausland in the show, ‘genius’.
The British comedian and actor, 47, will dance with fan-favourite professional Dianne Buswell in a bid to become the first-ever blind winner of the Glitterball Trophy.
But before the dancing got underway, Chris had the live audience and viewers at home in stitches as he used his stand-up skills to provide a run of hilarious jokes.
Chris, who has appeared on Have I Got News for You, Not Going Out, and other BBC comedies, went blind at age 22 after suffering from Retinitis pigmentosa. He’d already joked that he’d ‘never seen‘ Strictly before.
And during Saturday’s live episode, his self-deprecating humour shone through, as he commented: ‘I may as well get the jokes out now because I’m only here for three weeks.’
Later, as Dr Punam Krishnan was talking about joining the show and dancing with partner Gorka Márquez, Chris jumped in and joked: ‘Can I just say, none of us can believe we managed to get in the same room as a GP.’
The comment had the cast in stitches and fans loved this hilarious moment, praising the comedian on social media.
On X, Mano Billi said that Strictly should decide on its winner 15 weeks early thanks to Chris’ opening night performance: ‘Chris McCausland should win the glitter ball for [the GP joke] alone.’
Meanwhile, KDCunliffe praised the BBC for picking the Cbeebies star to join the line-up: ‘Whoever’s idea it was to try and get Chris McCausland on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing – all I can say is, it was a stroke of absolute genius!’
ArtsandGrafts said that she wanted him to go all the way in this year’s competition: ‘Chris McCausland is so naturally hilarious, I really hope he wins Strictly.’
LaureLexx concurred: ‘Oh it’s so good seeing how much Chris McCausland is already killing it on strictly. Funny funny man.’
It was also an emotional night on Saturday as Amy Dowden returned to the series with an ’empowering routine’ after undergoing extensive and tough treatment for breast cancer.
Amy was missing from last year’s competition after being diagnosed in the spring of 2023 – she underwent a significant period of chemotherapy that limited her to sporadic dance appearances on the BBC show last year.
She appeared as part of the group dance at the beginning of Saturday’s broadcast, however, before it was announced later on that she would be partnering with former JLS singer JB Gill.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to the BBC for comment.
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Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC and iPlayer.
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