Strictly Come Dancing launch show sees peak of 5.8 million viewers

Strictly Come Dancing’s launch episode attracted a peak of 5.8 million viewers, the BBC has said.

Saturday’s episode of the dancing show saw 200,000 more viewers at its peak than last year’s launch show, according to the BBC’s overnight figures.

It saw an average of 5.3 million viewers, with a share of 49.2%, which was 7% higher than last year, with the BBC claiming it saw more than four million extra viewers than any other show on TV at the same time.

The BBC said the figures were not the “full picture of all those who watch”, with Saturday’s episode of Strictly currently number one on the iPlayer’s most popular chart.

Strictly’s launch show saw Love Island winner Dani Dyer reunited with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, who she had been paired with on last year’s series before being forced to pull out due to injury, as the pairings for the latest series were revealed.

It was also revealed that this year’s line-up will feature the third all-female pairing in its history, with Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu dancing together, following Nicola Adams and Katya Jones in 2020, and Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer in 2022.

Big Brother co-host Will Best was paired with Dianne Buswell in her return to Strictly since giving birth to her first child with partner Joe Sugg.

The show was also the first for new hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe, who replaced long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who stepped down last year.

The show was the first for new hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe (Guy Levy/BBC)

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Speaking during her introduction, Willis said: “It is our genuine honour to be here, and we cannot wait to spend the next 13 weeks with all of you.”

The launch show opened with a dance number from the professionals, judges and the new hosts.

After introducing the show, Willis said: “Never in a million years did I ever think I would get to dance with Strictly pros.”

Radebe added: “And I definitely never thought it would be the three of us standing in the spot.”

Widdicombe interjected: “No, I’ll be honest, not many people did, Johannes.

“That got more of a laugh than I was hoping, but there we are, it’s a little bit overwhelming to be here, but we are so delighted.”

Five new professional dancers are also joining the show this year in Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita.

Strictly will return for its first live show of the new series next Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.