Mr Smith, if you're gymnasty

Final Results: 22nd December 2012

This time we get the cold open that we were so cruelly denied at the top of the evening: the show opens with a close-up on the glitterball trophy, and our four finalists all manage to restrain themselves from charging towards it screaming "GIMME GIMME GIMME! MINE MINE MINE!", Daffy Duck-style, as Tess intones that they've all danced twice for our votes this evening, but for one couple it will have been all for naught, as they're about to be eliminated. The other three couples will look sympathetic for as long as strictly necessary, then step over that couple's dance-corpse in order to compete one final time for that lovely prop trophy. This is Strictly Come Dancing - the grand final!


Truncated titles remind us of the only four people who matter at this point, and then we head straight back into the ballroom to get the necessary roughness over with, or so it seems. Oh lord, Tess got changed during Merlin - possibly into an actual costume FROM Merlin, since she's wearing a purple corset over a short purple skirt with translucent purple fabric draped over her from the waist down, and some sparkly epaulettes resting on her shoulders. She looks like She-Ra: Princess Of Power on Casual Friday. Still, this is the last fashion horror we'll have to witness from her until September 2013 [Except for Christmas, Steve - Rad], so the pain is less sharp than it might otherwise be.

Tess informs us that the lines are frozen, so we must not try to vote at this time. Bruce tells us that he doesn't want to see anybody go. I wouldn't put it past the show at this point to attempt to declare this a four-way tie, but if they even think about it I am going STRAIGHT TO OFCOM. Before the nasty business, Bruce reminds us that we've got the 2012 cast reunion dance to look forward to later, and then Tess tells us to watch out because Robbie Williams will be here later. I'll make sure I schedule my loo break for that point, then.

Backstage footage! Everyone is nervous. This is probably something we could have likely inferred for ourselves. Len thinks it was "without a doubt, the best final ever". Sometimes I really want to get all Wikipedia editor up in Len's face, and tell him that he'll need to cite an external reference if he's going to make statements like that. Denise's jive reprise was slightly disappointing unless you were one of the judges, Dani's tango reprise was slightly disappointing for pretty much everyone, Kimberley's Viennese waltz reprise was a notable improvement, and Louis's salsa reprise was...well, it was Dirty Dancing again, with everything that goes with that. Then we had showdances: Denise's was a little lift-centric for my tastes but arguably well-executed, and then James snogged Craig, or would like us to think that he did because he wants to look cool and exotic. James is basically the Katy Perry of ballroom. Dani's showdance was chaotic, confusing and not worth the effort - it was the Euston station of showdances, essentially. Kimberley's showdance was an utter triumph of style over substance, and I didn't even care because ZOMG PYROTECHNICS, and finally Louis's showdance was either a brilliantly moving display of artistic stillness or your local community centre's long-winded and self-indulgent production of The Bacchae, depending on where you stood on the spectrum. Read the previous recap if you genuinely feel that you can't go on without knowing my personal opinions on it, though I imagine you can probably guess.

Bruce and Tess are now holding cue cards, so you know shit's about to get real. The couple with the fewest viewer votes and finishing in fourth place is...Dani and Vincent. Denise totally had her "no, really, I'm fine with going out here" face prepared and is momentarily thrown because now she doesn't have to actually use it. I feel a bit sad for Dani and Vincent considering they made it all the way to the final without ever being in the bottom two only to crash at the final hurdle, but ultimately they were just outdanced on the night. And, if I'm honest, I could never really get on board the Dani train - she was a good dancer, but there was always too much strain in her face for me to ever get truly caught up in one of her routines. [Likewise.  I never disliked her especially but there was nothing there to actually make me want to vote for her.  I'm really susprised she never hit the bottom two in the earlier rounds - Rad] They head over to Bruce and Tess, who console them, while Vincent considers how he'll now rank alongside Erin in the list of pros who were eliminated while wearing embarrassing hairpieces, since he and Dani would've been dancing their jive if they'd survived this elimination. Dani says that it's been an amazing experience and the best part was meeting Vincent. Vincent says that he's so proud of Dani and couldn't wait to come in and train with her every week. We see Dani's highlights, which run as follows: GOSH, AREN'T YOU SHORT? SO VERY TINY! TEE HEE HEE! ...Oh, and you dance quite well, I suppose. Afterwards, Tess chucks Dani on the cheek, because why stop with the ridiculous patronising bullshit now?

This leaves us, of course, with three remaining finalists: Denise and James, Kimberley and Pasha, and Louis and Flavia, who will go on to reprise their own favourite dance from the series. Tess declares the lines re-open (with the votes from earlier carrying forward, in case anyone's wondering). Up first, we have Denise and James, who'll be serving up some Egyptian charleston realness - but first, we must endure their Strictly Story. Denise tells us that she's always had Strictly envy when she was watching other people dancing (those other people being the ones standing alongside her on the West End stage. Yeah, I said it: COME AT ME, DIGITAL SPY FORUMITES!) - having watched it for so many years, it's surreal finally being here. She points out that she and James haven't had the smoothest of rides on the show - things started out well, and then she got HER HEEL CAUGHT IN HER DRESS OH NOES, and then she ended up in the Dread Dance Off not once but twice. However, Denise attests that that's the joy of Strictly - it keeps you on your toes. Literally, unless you're Ian Waite. She claims that she never thought she'd make the final - and while I'm tempted to do my "oh yeah right" face here, that's one of the few saving graces about Denise and James as a pair - the part where they basically knew from a very early stage that they were going to come across rather grating and were probably destined to face the bottom two at least once. I mean, I'd have liked them more if they'd tried to do something about it by reining in their obnoxious personalities a bit, but they get some points for self-awareness, at least. Denise fondly remembers the time when SHIMMY JIMMY JORDAN forgot his moves, and less fondly remembers the times when things got tough, but says that James has kept her spirits up throughout. James says that he left the decision of their favourite dance entirely down to Denise (so gallant! Such a gent!) and unsurprisingly Denise went for her charleston, which was by fair the best dance she did on the show, quite possibly the best charleston anyone has done on the show. They got 39 at WEMBLEY, now she's hoping to get Craig to score them one point higher and land herself that perfect 40. Denise talks about how she'll miss all the banter that she and James have together (I, on the other hand, will not miss that at all), and says that all the hard work and injuries (the whiplash! That time she banged her head!) were worth it.

They reprise their charleston to 'Walk Like An Egyptian', with a few choreographical adjustments made to adjust for the fact that they're not at WEMBLEY this time, but they've wisely decided not to tamper too much with near-perfection. Last time they did it Denise out-danced James, and I'm inclined to say she does so again here. Obviously the charleston's not going to be the most taxing challenge for someone who's already got a stint in Chicago under her belt, but that shouldn't take away from this being a brilliant, joyful routine that I know I'm going to enjoy watching long after this series has finished. That's basically all I want at this point. (I could've done without James planking at the end, mind.) [Probably my favourite dance of the series - closely followed by her tango, Kimberley's tango and Kimberley's fusion in joint second because apparently we're all about joint second-place this year - Rad]

Dani and Vincent look down sadly from the Tess Circle, thinking of what could've been, as Denise and James head over to the judges. Len tells Denise that he will never forget her charleston. Christopher Parker, Sarah Hadland and Emma Kennedy applaud this statement. (I almost want Emma Kennedy to do Strictly just for the hilarious Twitter drama that would inevitably ensue, but then I remember what she was like on Celebrity Masterchef and think better of that idea.) Bruno tells Denise she has shown technical ability and versatility across the series, and "whatever happens", she can leave with her head held high. That's Bruno for "you're not winning, but well done". Craig reiterates that it's the best charleston they've ever had on the show. Darcey finishes by agreeing that it's a memorable charleston and praising the attention to detail, before opening up that can of worms again by calling Denise a professional.

Thankfully we don't dwell on that and head straight up to the Tess Circle again, where Denise says that she's very sad that this was her last dance with James, and the pair of them thank the viewers for allow them to dance the charleston one more time. Tess asks how much they want to win, and Denise's answer is basically "did you not hear Bruno? We're not winning, but thanks anyway." James does the "Ola has a glitterball trophy and I don't" sad-sack routine, then it's finally time for longstanding hold-out Craig Revel Horwood to give them a 10 for that routine and for the other three to follow suit, giving Denise a perfect 40 for her last dance.

Kimberley and Pasha are next, and their Strictly Story is very much what you'd expect Kimberley's narrative to be: hits all the beats of an average contestant, never entirely seems to engage. Still, she did her talking on the dancefloor in the end, and that's where it mattered the most. Pasha says that he knew right from the start that Kimberley was destined for great things, and it was his job to make her believe in herself as much as he believed in her. He is just the darnedest thing, isn't he? Kimberley reminds us that Len didn't like her foxtrot, and I swear I'd entirely forgotten that until they showed the clip a gazillion times on It Takes Two in the final week, just to remind us How Far She's Come. There are shots of a pouty, tearful Kimberley hugging Pasha, as Kimberley explains that getting criticism pushed her to learn to be a better dancer. Like, eight weeks later, but still. Then she had that premature visit to the bottom two in week six and thought (as did most of us) that her days were numbered, but she came back fighting (eventually), winning the judges over with her Fusion. She says she feels like the Comeback Kid, and isn't entirely sure how she went from stuck on 34 every week to regularly getting 40/40. Neither am I, and what's even more fascinating to me is that she somehow became more likeable when her scores suddenly skyrocketed, when I'd expected the reverse to happen. She calls Pasha "a friend for life", and he says that he felt they were "a perfect couple". He'd love to win, but even more than that, he wants Kimberley to win. OH GOD PASHA STOP BEING PERFECT, I CAN'T HANDLE IT.

They're reprising their tango for their favourite dance - another one of their many, many previous routines that originally scored 34. You can tell pretty much instantly that they're going to score much higher this time around, not just because it's the final and the judges are physically incapable of scoring that low (you could practically see them all twitching when they gave Dani 35), but also because this dance is much better this time around: it's sharper, Kimberley's posture is much improved and she's channeling the tango attitude with her whole body, not just her lips. The crowd goes wild at the end, and deservedly so.

While Bruce has a coughing fit, Bruno calls Kimberley a "femme fatale" and "Strictly irresistible", and reminds us that she has really blossomed both as a dancer and a performer in the last few weeks. He says Kimberley makes us forget where the technique finishes and the performance starts. That's a good thing, I assume. Craig says that was ten times better than the last time she danced it, and he can't believe how she came out and annihilated the dancefloor this time. Darcey giggles that she loves it when Kimberley's moody and suggests she could win medals with that pout. She loved the tension in the dance, and cites the end of that routine as her "most favourite". Well, so much for the standard of grammar on this show improving after Alesha left. Len says that back in week one he called her "nimble Kimble", and now she's improved her technique, her footwork, and her hold, and she's provided him with some of the most spectacular highlights of the whole series. Bruce ushers her off quick, "before I cry". Kimberley and Pasha do as they're bid, since they've heard that once Bruce starts leaking fluids, there's no telling when he'll stop.

So up to the Tess Circle they go, for one final cuddle with Tess. Kimberley's a bit tearful, and says she's going to miss dancing with Pasha, and she wanted to really go for that tango knowing it was her last chance. Tess says that Kimberley's given a real range of emotions tonight, and Kimberley giggles that she's got a split personality. Well, it's a definite step up from "no personality", which was my fear in the early weeks. Kimberley pouts a bit more, Pasha grins with pride, and Kimberley says the experience has been worth more than any glitterball. Just as well, since Louis is winning. Scores: 10s all round again for a total of 40. Kimberley's thrilled to have got a perfect score with her favourite dance. As Tess reads out the numbers, Denise reaches out and gives Kimberley a congratulatory stroke on the arm, which is a lovely moment of unscripted humanity for both of them.

Our final Strictly Story of the night comes from Louis Smith Esq., who talks about having just come from the Olympics and realising that Strictly is quite the match for it in terms of intensity. He's loved his experience on the show, even though it's been difficult. He never thought he'd make the final, but he's worked hard and had a lot of fun and credits Flavia with getting him this far. Flavia talks about Louis's "poster-boy image" (is that in the same way that he's a gay icon?) but deep down he's very loveable. Louis thinks Flavia has been a brilliant teacher, and Flavia reminds us that he had to Learn To Perform and how those mean judges were mean because they had high expectations of him being a professional gymnast and everything. SO MEAN. Louis loved Halloween week above all, but not enough to actually pick it for his favourite dance of the competition: instead, that honour is going to the charleston, where he had his Performance Breakthrough (/learned to pull a few faces). Louis says that this is the point where things changed for him, and it makes sense to finish on that routine because he loved it and everyone else seemed to enjoy watching it too. [I didn't mind the dance, but I'm not pleased that the song they used for it has been a constant earworm for me ever since, and I don't even like that song - Rad]

So they repeat their charleston, and it's goofy and fun but it's not really a showcase for Louis's abilities in the same way that the two dances we've just seen were for those couples, so it feels like a bit of an anticlimactic choice to end with. Mostly, I just spent this routine thinking "blimey, he really does have big hands, doesn't he?" - although not in a sexual way, obviously, because I know Louis doesn't want The Gays thinking like that about him. HEAVEN FORFEND. After the famous somersault over Flavia from the original routine, they've now added a backflip in afterwards (despite having said that they wanted to use the showdance to prove that gymnastics wasn't just backflips and somersaults. Oh well).

Bruce points out the standing ovation from the audience, and points out how ubiquitous the standing ovations have been this evening, thereby pointing out the meaninglessness of said standing ovations. Thanks Bruce! Craig says it's going to be so hard for the viewers at home to pick a winner, and he's glad that the judges' opinions "sort of don't matter" tonight. He says that Louis has worked very hard on that routine, and his personality and character really come through. He also calls the somersault a "sommie", and I really hope that doesn't catch on. Darcey says she didn't think they could add more to that routine, but then they added another flip! She likes seeing the cheeky Louis, and confirms that he now has everything: the performance, the technique, and the tricks. Len says that he's felt like a teacher telling off a naughty schoolboy sometimes this series (Louis points to Flavia in response to this, which is interesting on so many levels), but he's never doubted Louis's ability or potential. He thinks that was a gold medal performance. "I've been waiting for that kind of comment!" says Louis. And don't we know it! Bruno finishes by calling it "an uplifting tonic" and saying that Louis offered more tricks, more fun and more accomplishment than ever, and he's proven that he can act a dance. Bruno thinks that the decision tonight is "like choosing between precious jewels - each one of you shines and has incredible qualities". And Bruno wants to put them all in his ring. Yes, I realise that's biologically improbable for at least two of the contestants, but it sounded filthy so I went with it regardless. Come on, it's been a long series, cut me some slack.

They trot up to the Tess Circle, clearly spent emotionally and physically, and Tess reminds us that Louis has "never performed before", just for the benefit of the viewers at home who vote for reasons like that, and Louis and Flavia both do the "you've been amazing" "no you have" "oh shut your face" "no, you shut YOUR face" thing, and Louis echoes the sentiment that it's all gone beyond winning at this point. Scores: Craig 9, Darcey 10, Len 10, Bruno 10 for a total of 39. There is predictable OUTRAGE at Craig's score, but...less than 15 minutes ago he'd said Denise's charleston was the best in the history of the show, so of course he wasn't going to give Louis's the same score. (We'll gloss over the part where he gave Kimberley's charleston a 10 last week.) The booing continues for longer than is necessary, and it's ridiculous at this point that 39 is considered an unacceptably low score, but it's the final and I think everyone's gone a bit stir crazy, so let's just hope they've calmed down by the time series 11 starts and don't start setting fire to the set just because Greg Rutherford's cha cha cha only gets 31. (It's probably for the best that Greg Rutherford is only a Strictly contestant in my imagination, because I think these recaps would get VERY EMBARRASSING if he was actually on the show. It would make the sort of things I've written about Pasha look positively tame.)

Very last leaderboard of the series:
1st: Denise & James (119)
2nd: Kimberley & Pasha (118)
2nd: Louis & Flavia (118)

That officially makes this the closest final EVAH, at least in terms of the judges' scores (narrowly beating Alesha vs Matt in series five, when there were only two points between them). As she reads out the voting details again, all the finalists (including Dani and Vincent) reach out to each other behind her. Again, it's lovely. I wish we'd seen a little bit more of the bonds between the finalists - if they're as close as it looks like they are, it would've been nice to have that a bit more front-and-centre.

Recap of our three finalists dancing their three dances of the evening, then Tess reminds us that we had a great cast this year (I suppose we did, didn't we? Even if it didn't seem like that at first glance), and they'll be dancing for us shortly, but not before the first of a great many filler VTs to pad out the running time before the winning couple is announced. Highlights of this one include: the brief reappearance of Iveta Lukosiute; Jerry Hall saying she'll remember her time on Strictly forever, which is precisely forever longer than anyone else will; Colin now and forever being ridiculously taller than Kristina; Fern still being very happy that she went out on a salsa in a pink frock while swaddled in Artem's tits (♥); the editors including THE QUIP THAT RICHARD ARNOLD TRIED TO BAN; Victoria thinking she's "a little bit crazy for doing [Strictly]", not realising that she didn't need the last three words; Michael using a lot of cricket metaphors; Nicky reminding us that Westlife existed for 14 YEARS; Lisa talking about how she and Robin are now BFFs and are off down G-A-Y later and will be staggering home at 3am reeking of poppers.

Back in the Tess Circle, Tess reminds us that Lisa is the star of the series whether we agree or not, and Lisa says that it was nice to be able to chill out and enjoy the show tonight without the pressure of performing. Richard says he's going to miss everyone on the show, but he's very pleased that he got Jerry Hall's phone number. Tess asks Jerry if she has kept dancing. I'm not sure if that's the appropriate verb, since it implies that she ever started dancing. Then we revisit the epic bromance (*spit spit*) of Michael and Nicky, and how Tess spotted them earlier swapping clothes AFTER HAVING HOT GAY SEX WITH EACH OTHER. Possibly. Tess asks them all to shout who they want to win on the count of three, and everyone either shouts "Louis" or "Johnny". Sucks to be Kimberley and Denise right now, I guess.

And now, a musical interlude courtesy of Robbie Williams with 'Different'. The light's just gone out a little bit where Robbie Williams is concerned, hasn't it? He just looks like it's all a bit of a chore for him these days. Still, people are buying the records, so he has to turn up. Mind you, if we were going to be forced to endure him tonight, I'd have preferred him to sing 'Candy' so Victoria Pendleton could've done her salsa again. Instead, we have Artem and Aliona doing a very high-speed exhibition rumba/samba hybrid (DANCE FUSION!), to the point where I thought my recording of the show had just sensed Robbie Williams and decided to fast-forward itself on principle. Quick show of hands: who thinks Aliona will be back next year? Who thinks Iveta will be here instead? And who thinks they'll somehow both be here? Ah, interesting.

We cut back to Tess and Bruce who are doing the "everybody! Robbie Williams! Totally here right now!" arm gestures, which give away that it was a pre-record (assuming you hadn't already spotted that Darcey was wearing a completely different outfit during his performance). Tess warns us that the lines are closing in five minutes, which is the cue for another VT about what people at home "have loved about this series". Which is a falsehood, because the VT is in fact about "the Strictly Shimmy", a thing that literally nobody outside of the show gives a crap about. Still, we're forced to sit through footage of people all over the country pretending that they're totally engaged with it, and it's very disheartening. Assorted women and gays then talk about what an amazing series it's been, people go on about Darcey saying "yah" all the time even though that lasted for all of two weeks, and then someone actually says "but she can get away with it because she's so beautiful". It's moments like this that make me think this show doesn't deserve to have viewers at all. There's a whole Olympian montage devoted to how Victoria sucked but Louis was amazing because everyone fancied him. Then there's a discussion of the real stars of this series: Artem's tits. People's Champignon Lisa Riley gets an extended tribute (soundtracked to 'Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)', I shit you not), someone calls Sid Owen "Ricky", everyone remembers how shitmazing Michael's jive was, then we're informed that Bruno is incoherent (fair enough) and Craig went all soft this year (????????????????), and Len talked about some pig's bums. The unfortunate segue department takes us to Dani here, someone calls Dani and Vincent "like real people but smaller", the show manages to find a handful of Denise supporters, there's a montage of Kimberley shaking her T&A, and Louis's time on the show is, of course, reduced to "he did a lot of gymnastics". It's amazing how this VT that's meant to make us feel all nostalgic has gone to great lengths to capture all of the worst things about this series. Except for Artem's tits, of course. God bless you, Artem's tits.

The lines are now closed! So while the votes are being tallied (/a technician wanders over to see if anyone at all bothered to vote for Denise or Kimberley), we've got our group dance from the ten couples who didn't make the final. It's a jive to 'River Deep, Mountain High' in which the celebs (mercifully) get hidden behind the pros as much as possible - seriously, the first verse and chorus basically involves the celebs freestyling at the back while the pros do all the actual dancing. [Along with new random pro-combo Anton and Ola! - Rad] They get integrated a bit more afterwards, with everyone making room for Lisa and Robin to reprise their FAMOUS reverse-lift from their cha cha cha, and even the judges are involved briefly. The camera lingers in front of Victoria for an uncomfortably cruel amount of time - oh, and for some reason all of the female pros are wearing hideous white satin skorts. Now there's a mental image to take away.

Tess is up in the Tess Circle with the three finalists, waiting to plug the Christmas special. We'll be getting around to recapping that in due course, but let's just say that we're very excited about Merry Christmas JLS being a part of it. And Katya, of course! And the ever-truthy Sheila Hancock, who still doesn't care about your grandmother or about the morons in the audience who'll clap for anything.

Apparently we haven't had enough highlights from the series yet, because now we're going to get some more: Denise pulled faces at James and also hit him a lot, Kimberley spent a lot of time pouting at the camera both in rehearsals and on the live shows, and Louis dances a lot better when Flavia's choreographing for him than he does when he's just making up his own moves. There you go: Strictly FACTS! I'm so glad we wasted four minutes on that, considering what we're about to not find out.

Tess and Bruce have got their cue cards, and the glitterball trophy is standing by. The results are in, or rather the singular result is in, and the champions of Strictly Come Dancing 2012 are...Louis and Flavia. I'm not sure it was the producers' exact intention for this moment to be accompanied by screams of "BUT WHO WAS SECOND, YOU UTTER BUNCH OF SHITS?", but that's pretty much what happened in my house. Seriously, that is inexcusable. As I said in the previous recap, I had a feeling it was going to happen because The Voice UK did the same thing, but it's still ridiculous to expect people to pay to vote for their favourites and then arbitrarily and vaguely declare two of them "joint runners-up". We want a finishing order, DAMMIT. I was so cross about this I actually complained to the BBC for the first time in my life. Considering we had to sit through nearly half an hour of filler to get to this point, there is no good reason at all why they couldn't have made time for a separate elimination to confirm who finished in third place, and then go on to announce the winner.

Anyway, my apologies to Louis and Flavia for not being suitably reverent in their moment of triumph (IT WASN'T MY FAULT IT'S THE BLOODY PRODUCERS), but let's just say that Louis is quite pleased, and Flavis is ABSOLUTELY ECSTATIC. She's going a bit Camilla, just repeating "ohmygodohmygod" over and over again while Bruce and Tess try to direct the runners-up to their marks for the final interviews. Tess asks Kimberley and Pasha how much they've loved being here, and Kimberley says it's been amazing and she's very happy for Louis. Flavia can go fuck herself, though. (Kidding!) Denise is going to miss James, and thanks him for everything. Bruce announces that "you're all champions in my eyes". NOT GOING TO CUT IT BRUCE, TELL US WHO WAS IN SECOND PLACE OR I'M GOING TO GET NASTY.

Then we turn to our winners, and Louis declares Flavia "a goddess" while Flavia thanks Louis for "sharing your amazing talent". My word, it's like the Oscars. Then Louis busts out the "finally I can say I won something in 2012!" line that's funny and also fractionally churlish. Tess asks if there's anything Louis would like to say to Flavia, and Louis says that she's the nicest person he's ever met, and "so patient". Bruce jokes that of course she is, she had to dance with Jimmy Tarbuck. Tess asks if Louis is going to keep dancing. "You have to!" Flavia chirps, and Louis repeats that he has to, sounding faintly non-committal to the idea. Bruce hands over the glitterball trophy, the fireworks go herp derp perp across the werp merp berp. Then the other contestants all arrive ready to congratulate Louis and Flavia, and Bruce snarls at them repeatedly to back off. He's got a closing link to do, you don't know the pressures he's under! Louis and Flavia head to the floor for a victory dance, and Flavia CANNOT WAIT to do the Dirty Dancing lift one more time. Confetti falls from the ceiling and the band play 'Rule The World' one last time as the others finally get the chance to pile on that Bruce so rudely interrupted a few moments ago.

So that's it for the 2012 series! I think it's no surprise at this point that Louis and Flavia weren't my choice to win and I don't know if I'll actually go back to any of their routines to watch again and again the way I know I will with Denise's charleston or Kimberley's tango, but they were very strong contenders across the series, they worked hard and delivered week after week and I can't deny that they earned that victory. Besides, my favourite has won two years in a row prior to this, so I've had a pretty good run lately, results-wise. We'll be back soon with a recap of the Christmas Special (check back for that in a few days), and we hope you'll join us again next year for series 11 - and we also hope that at some point the BBC will deign to reveal which couple actually finished second. In the meantime - BACK OFF, ALL OF YOU! JUST BACK OFF A MINUTE!