STRICTLY Come Dancing’s week one show ratings plunged to a three year low last night as it celebrated its twentieth series.
Official figures showed that 2.7million fewer people watched Strictly at its peak on Saturday night than they did in 2020.
EastEnders actor James Bye is on this series
The peak is the lowest it has been for the past six years.
Last night’s show saw Will Mellor topping the leaderboard and Ellie Simmonds getting a standing ovation for her Cha Cha Cha.
The on screen triumphs however did not give the ratings a lift however, with a peak of 7.3million tuning in.
It is a drop in the week one peak from last year, which had a peak of 8.39m.
In 2020 the peak audience figure watching the show was 10.1m.
This year’s series of Strictly is the first full run of the show since 2020 when the pandemic began.
As well as running for its full length, Strictly will return to Blackpool for the first time since 2019.
Fifteen celebs took to the dance floor last night and many ended up getting high marks from Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton du Beke.
Will – who played Gaz Wilkinson in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps – impressed the judges with his Jive routine alongside his professional partner Nancy Xu.
The actor danced to Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin, and he scored a total of 34 points out of a possible 40.
Hamza, on the other hand, performed a Foxtrot to Islands In The Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
The 32-year-old wildlife presenter and his professional partner Jowita Przystał wowed the judges with their footwork. They earned a score of 34 out of 40, putting them joint-top of the leaderboard alongside Will and Nancy.
By contrast, former England soccer captain Tony Adams and his partner Katya Jones failed to impress with their routine.
Katya created an Arsenal-themed Tango, to Go West by Village People.
The ex-sportsman began the routine sat on top of a cannon, in reference to his former team – but Tony’s efforts underwhelmed the judging panel, with Craig Revel Horwood describing his performance as “stompy”.
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Tony and Katya were ultimately awarded a meagre score of 15 out of 40, putting them at the bottom of the table.
The results from the opening weekend of dancing will all be carried over to next week when one of the celebrities will be going home.
