Glitterball gold as 12m see Harry Judd’s Strictly triumph

And as the annual spectacle that is the Strictly Come Dancing final drew to a close, almost 12 million viewers watched as Harry Judd took the glitterball trophy with his partner, Aliona Vilani.

The series, which saw Russell Grant fired from a cannon and revealed ex-Wales footballer Robbie Savage to be as light-footed on the dancefloor as he was on the pitch, also saw off competition from The X Factor in the ratings war.

On Saturday night, the main programme drew an average of 12.2 million viewers, while the results show, in which the drummer from the band McFly secured victory, was seen by 11.8 million people.

Although the figures were slightly down on last year, which broke records when 13 million watched both shows, they represented a larger proportion of the TV audience at 48 per cent against 46 per cent in 2010.

Its semi-final last weekend drew more viewers than the first leg of The X Factor final on ITV1. Strictly pulled in 11 million, while The X Factor managed 10.9 million.

Saturday’s Strictly final consolidated the programme’s achievement as a television juggernaut that is now exported around the world, earns the BBC more than £100 million a year and is set to inspire commercial spin-offs, such as Strictly cruises, DVDs and even romantic “chick-lit” novels.

At the weekend, the romance was between the public and Judd who, with Aliona, beat actress Chelsee Healey and Australian actor and singer Jason Donovan in the live final at Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom.

Donovan was the first to be eliminated, after failing to win the audience’s vote despite topping the leaderboard with his first two dances with partner Kristina Rihanoff, a tango to the Gloria Gaynor classic I Will Survive and a showdance to Dancing Fool from Barry Manilow’s musical, Copacabana.

In the dance-off, Judd – the bookies’ favourite – and Vilani danced a quickstep to the Pretenders’ Don’t Get Me Wrong and a showdance to Jerry Lee Lewis’s Great Balls of Fire. Healey and partner Pasha Kovalev performed a jive to The Monkees’ I’m A Believer. Their showdance was to Beyoncé’s One Night Only.

When he was announced as the winner, Judd said: “All I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ve had the most incredible experience.

“I was so nervous when I started and I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but somehow Aliona has got me through this. Wow!”

When his father and fellow bandmates stormed the stage to congratulate him, they were shooed off by Sir Bruce Forsyth, who did not recognise them.

So many viewers tried to vote that the phone lines were jammed at times, with fans venting their frustration on Twitter. Caroline Hopkins wrote: “Very very cross. Want to vote for Jason and the phone lines not working. If BBC want phone votes let us vote!”

A spokesman for the BBC insisted there were no reported problems with the service and said: “The phone lines were busy because of the number of people who wanted to vote.”

The Guinness Book of Records has named Strictly Come Dancing as the most successful reality television format in the world. To date, the format has been sold to 35 broadcasters and is watched in more than 75 countries. This year viewers in France, Indonesia, South Korea and Armenia watched national versions for the first time.

The most lucrative for BBC Worldwide is the American version of the show. Since 2004, foreign sales have generated more than £260m for the BBC. The next most lucrative income stream is the live tour after the end of each series.

Since 2007, more than 1.5 million tickets have been sold to events, with last year’s tour grossing more than £10m. In 2009, Warner Leisure launched “Strictly holidays”, in which couples enjoyed a four-night hotel break featuring dance classes and opportunities to meet the judges and contestants.

This week the BBC is expected to launch themed cruises, in which holidaymakers can attend “masterclasses” run by the professional dancers and enjoy cocktails with the judges.

In Britain, stores are packed with Strictly clothing, cosmetics, glitterballs, CDs and DVDs. A new line, children’s books, was announced last week.

The success of the show has helped to increase the profits of BBC Worldwide by 10 per cent to a record £160.2m.

Yesterday, Chris Curtis, the deputy editor of industry magazine Broadcast, said: “It had gone off the boil a bit, but they have got it back on track.

“The X Factor’s hype coincided with some weaker years for Strictly, but the BBC have tweaked the format and tried to get a bit of fun back into it, including really working hard to get the line-up right.”