Fresh blow for Strictly as ratings drop AGAIN following Giovanni and Graziano scandals

STRICTLY Viewership of Come Dancing has plummeted as hundreds of thousands of people stopped watching it live.

Viewers on Saturday – the series’ first public-voted show – peaked at 7.1 million, up from 7.8 million last year.

The decline follows a similar decline for the premiere episode and first live episode last weekend.

A TV insider said: “It is undoubtedly still the most watched program on Saturday nights – attracting twice as many viewers as its nearest rival in terms of viewing figures.

“And while the number of catch-up viewers is growing, the BBC has always prided itself on the fact that the dance program offered a shared experience.

“But it seems like fewer and fewer people are choosing to share it on Saturday night.”

The first public voting program has lost more than 3.5 million viewers since 2020, when it peaked at 11.8 million viewers.

Last week, the first live show peaked at 6.7 million, up from 7.3 million the previous year.

Meanwhile, the night’s launch was watched by 5.7 million viewers, which is one million fewer than the same episode in 2023.

Some speculate that this year’s scandal surrounding the behavior of professionals Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima contributed to the decline.

However, the corporation has not yet released data showing how much of the decline is due to viewers switching to iPlayer.