Strictly Come Dancing finale pulls in 13 million viewers

Strictly Come Dancing{jcomments off}The 2011 finale of Strictly Come Dancing had a peak audience of 13 million viewers on BBC One last night while the penultimate episode of Merlin saw ratings surge to over 7 million viewers.

The finale of Strictly saw Jason Donovan, Chelsee Healey and Harry Judd compete against each other to be crowned the 2011 Strictly champion. The first Strictly show at 7pm had 12.1 million viewers with a peak audience of 13 million viewers in its final 15 minutes. The penultimate episode of Merlin‘s fourth season saw its ratings surge at 8pm. The fantasy drama pulled in an impressive 7.2 million viewers thanks to the lack of competition from ITV1.

The second instalment of Strictly Come Dancing, at 9pm, had an average audience of 12 million viewers. Jason Donovan finished in third placing which meant that Chelsee Healey and Harry Judd had to perform two more dances in front of the judges and the audience to get the public vote. Harry Judd, the bookies favourite, was crowned the winner of Strictly Come Dancing. BBC One was the most watched channel throughout the night with a lacklustre line-up on ITV meaning the broadcaster trailed behind.

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