STRICTLY Come Dancing’s ratings for its Saturday night launch show hit an historic low in the wake of its bullying scandal.
Many tuned in to see if hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly would mention the crisis surrounding alleged bad behaviour by pros Graziano di Prima and Giovanni Pernice.
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Yet the BBC1 programme only had a peak audience of 5.7million — a million down on the same show last year and 3.3million down on the 9million ratings peak in 2020.
The only other Strictly launch show to rate so badly was in 2022 when Queen Elizabeth II’s death forced it to launch on a Friday night and had a peak of 5.6million tune in.
A TV insider said: “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.
“But with the results of the investigation into Giovanni still hanging over the corporation, it will be difficult for Strictly fans to fully embrace the new series.
“The debacle couldn’t have come at a worst time as it celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.”
A dazzling ride could not hide pro absense
IT was a spectacular idea to kick off Saturday’s show with a giant party bus bringing all the pros into the studio.
But two of the show’s biggest stars were absent from the big opening number. And it was impossible to forget why.
Perhaps the bus was supposed to be a message from bosses that they were taking the pros left and trying to move on.
Less smart was the decision to have it break down.
Perhaps, like the show itself, the wheels were starting to come off.
By Rod McPhee
Giovanni Pernice, 34, quit the show earlier this year at the start of a probe into his backstage behaviour towards Amanda Abbington, who he was paired with last year.
It has yet to conclude but the findings are expected to be released soon.
Then, Graziano di Prima, 30, was sacked after footage emerged of him allegedly kicking his partner Zara McDermott in rehearsals in 2023.
But neither Tess nor Claudia made any reference to the scandals on Saturday night’s show.
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Pete’s odds twist again
By Rod McPhee
TOWIE legend Pete Wicks saw his odds almost half from 16/1 to 9/1 when it was revealed he was in a Strictly duo with Jowita Przystal.
But ex JLS star JB Gill his favourite to win after being paired with Amy Dowden, who’s back after cancer.
He was given odds of 7/2 by Ladbrokes.
Second favourite, at 4/1 is Tasha Ghouri, who was paired with Aljaz Skorjanec.
Christmas Strictly winner Jamie Borthwick’s odds dropped from 4/1 to 5/1 after he was paired with Michelle Tsiakkas.
It was the same story for Shayne Ward after he was paired with Nancy Xu.
Sam Quek’s odds went from 6/1 to 7/1 as she got pro Nikita Kuzmin.
But Montell Douglas’s odds were up to 8/1 from 12/1 after pairing with Johannes Radebe.
