BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Tess Daly speaks out as show dealt blow after Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell win 

Tess Daly has spoke out after she show was seemingly dealt a blow after the latest Strictly Come Dancing winners were crowned. The presenter was the one to confirm Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell as this year's champions.

The comedian and the Australian professional dancer made it to the grand final of the BBC One dance contest's 2024 series on Saturday night (December 14) where they performed three dances alongside their fellow finalists in a bid to win the competition.

Chris, who was Strictly's first-ever blind contestant, and Dianne were paired together for the 20th-anniversary series of Strictly back in September and after 13 weeks of dancing together, and three months of capturing the nations hearts, the pair were seen lifting the famous Glitterball trophy.

READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland says 'it's got to stop' and speaks out on Dianne Buswell 'split'

It came after the pair fought off stiff competition during the sparkling grand final from Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec, JB Gill and Lauren Oakley and Sarah Hadland and Vito Coopla to take the title for the 22nd series and lift the coveted Glitterball trophy.

Following the final, Tess took straight to Instagram with a snap of herself and co-host Claudia alongside Chris and Dianne and said: "The biggest congratulations to our INCREDIBLE winners @chrismccauslandcomedy @diannebuswell SO well deserved.

"I am absolutely in AWE of what they have achieved and in love with them both. Thank you so much for watching. We could not do this show without you being along for the ride. In my humble opinion that was the greatest final we have done in 20 years of the show. Thank you so much for being a part of it."

Now, Tess has offered another update. She shared a picture of this year's winners to her Instagram Story and said: "Thank you so much to everyone that tune in to our Strictly final las Saturday! It had the highest audience share in our 20-year history and I think @chrismccauslandcomedy @diannebuswell really embodied the spirit of the show."

But despite the success of the 2024 series, the hit dance programme did suffer a drop in its ratings for the third year running. Last year, the show's viewership peaked at 9.7 million while this year failed to attract as many fan, peaking at 9.3 million.

The average viewership for the 2023 series was 8.8 million, however, this year it dropped to 8.6 million. The 2024 series got off to a slow start as the live show was watched by 7.1 million fans, significantly down from 7.8 million the year before. Despite the changes, it was revealed at the point of its latest launch that Strictly is still the most watched programme on Saturday nights.