Strictly Come Dancing suffers another blow following a year of scandal after Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell are crowned winners

Strictly Come Dancing has suffered another blow after a year of scandal as the ratings for the final episode have been released.

The BBC show saw Chris McCausland and his pro partner Dianne Buswell win the 2024's champions after he history as the show's first ever blind contestant.

Chris, 47, pipped fellow finalists Tasha Ghouri, JB Gill and Sarah Hadland to the post in the 'best ever' final on Saturday.

The final, which was the highest-scoring ever, saw all the couples each perform three dances for the judges before hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced Chris as the winner of the much sought after Glitterball trophy.

Despite the accolades and star-studded cast in this year's show, it wasn't enough to bring in the same level of viewership and the competition saw another drop in it's ratings for the third time in a row. 

Last year the dance show peaked with a viewership of 9.7million but this it failed to attract as many fans, peaking at 9.3million viewers. 

Last year's average audience saw 8.8million dancing fans tune in to the BBC One show but this year it had fallen to 8.6million. 

The news comes after the show got off to a slow start as well, with the first live show bringing in just 7.1million, down from 7.8million the year before.

The drop in viewers tuning in echoed a similar dip for both its launch and first live shows, with almost one million tuning out for the former.

But it's not all doom and gloom for scandal-hit Strictly, as it was revealed earlier this year that the programme is still the most watched Saturday night show.

A source told The Sun in September: 'Strictly is still the most watched programme on a Saturday night — getting double the viewers of its nearest ratings rival.

'And, although the number watching on catch-up is increasing, the BBC always prided itself on the fact that the dance show offered a shared experience.

'But it seems fewer and fewer people are now choosing to share it on a Saturday night.'

The BBC Latin and ballroom show returned screens in the Autumn amid a major scandal and a shock NTA win upon its 20th anniversary.

Throughout 2024, Strictly has been embroiled in a scandal which all started when Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington accused her partner Giovanni Pernice of bullying.

A months-long investigation was started up by the broadcaster, and the professional was not invited back onto this series.

Giovanni was cleared of ten out of Amanda's 16 allegations when the BBC probe concluded in September but remained absent for the current edition of the series.

Despite bosses finding Giovanni was not threatening or physically abusive, it did uphold some of Amanda's complaints of verbal bullying and harassment.

The BBC also agreed with Amanda at times he appeared to be giving her overly negative feedback.

In a written statement, a spokesperson for Giovanni said: 'We are pleased that this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by Giovanni.'

Graziano Di Prima was later sacked by the BBC following claims of gross misconduct towards his former partner Zara McDermott.

At the time, Graziano, 30, admitted to kicking Zara during their sessions and claimed that he her so frightened that she 'locked herself in a toilet'.

Mark Borkowski, a spokesperson for Graziano, told BBC News: 'There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that is right. And he knows that.

'He knows he's made a mistake. He apologised at the time.'

Referring to the media reports, Mark added: 'But he doesn't recognise some of the issues surrounding it. The descriptions of what is being commented online, and how he remembers it, are not aligned.'

Upon its launch, the show received a major blow when viewing figures plummeted amid the scandals and pulled in more than a million less than usual.

Another small controversy arose earlier this year when Katya Jones pushing her partner Wynne Evan's hand away from her during a live broadcast.

Appearing on spin-off series It Takes Two, Wynne admitted he had watched the footage of the incident back and confessed: 'I can see how people may have misinterpreted it.'

Clinging to his arm, Katya said she 'can't bear' the flack her co-star is getting and was empathetic that there was no wrongdoing.

She said: 'The idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense, and those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. So hopefully this will be the end of it, and you just keep making me smile.'

She added: 'I can't sit here watching this man being portrayed as someone he's not. In fact, it couldn't be further away from the truth.

'So I have to make this absolutely clear that this whole incident, with the hand and the high five on Saturday night, was an inside joke between Wynne and I. Was it a silly joke? Yes, was it a bad joke? Yes.'