Strictly Come Dancing launch show sees peak of 5.8 million viewers

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Cooper-Fiske, C. (2026, September 20). Strictly Come Dancing launch show sees peak of 5.8 million viewers. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/bbc-emma-willis-tess-daly-dianne-buswell-big-brother-b1297660.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-20 · by Casey Cooper-Fiske

Quick Summary

The launch episode of "Strictly Come Dancing" on October 7th attracted a peak audience of 5.8 million viewers, an increase of 200,000 from last year's debut show. The show had an average of 5.3 million viewers and a 49.2% share, which is 7% higher than the previous year’s launch. The article highlights this year's unique all-female pairing between Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, and introduces new hosts Gregarious Willis, Johannes Radebe, and Tituss Widdicombe alongside five new professional dancers joining the series.

Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The launch show of BBC One’s *Strictly Come Dancing* on Saturday peaked at 5.8 million viewers, an increase from last year’s peak of 5.6 million but averaging at 5.3 million viewers compared to 5.4 million in 2025. The show saw a share of 49.2%, up by 7% from the previous year and reportedly had more than four million extra viewers than any other program on TV at that time. Dani Dyer, winner of Love Island, was reunited with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, who she previously partnered before being forced to withdraw due to injury last year. Additionally, this season will feature the third all-female pairing in the show's history, with Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu joining previous pairs Nicola Adams and Katya Jones (2020) and Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer (2022). However, despite these changes, viewers were underwhelmed by the new hosting trio of Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe, and Josh Widdicombe, with many preferring former hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

Written for “Strictly Come Dancing Ratings” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Strictly Come Dancing Ratings

Entertainment · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

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1 of 12 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

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Publisher signals

65/100

Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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Evening Standard · 7849 article(s) · 64 correction(s) detected

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Who wrote this

Casey Cooper-Fiske

64 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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Topics

BBC BBC One iPlayer

Subjects

BBC ORG · 3× Willis PERSON · 2× iPlayer ORG · 2× Bethany Antonia PERSON · 1× Dani Dyer PERSON · 1× Jayde Adams PERSON · 1× Katya Jones PERSON · 1× Nancy Xu PERSON · 1× Nicola Adams PERSON · 1× Nikita Kuzmin PERSON · 1×

Narrative

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.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20

🔮 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.

2026-09-20 · Evening Standard

Strictly Come Dancing launch show sees peak of 5.8 million viewers · assertive framing

Claims (12 extracted, 1 hedged)

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. uncertain

episode → dance → 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. asserted

it → see → 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. asserted

episode → say → chart

Antonia → see → 2022

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.” asserted

we → speak → you

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

show → open → professionals

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

I → introduce → pros

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

it → add → spot

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

people → interject → ?

“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. asserted

we → get → laugh

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

dancers → join → Isaeva

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

Strictly → return → BBC

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