Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly

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Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly host Strictly Come Dancing(Image: BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing has been beaten in the ratings by fellow BBC show Celebrity Traitors.

The ballroom extravaganza started in September and millions tuned in for the launch show, where the 15 celebrities met their professional partners for the first time.

The overnight figures showed that the 2025 launch matched the 2024 episode, peaking at 5.6 million viewers and averaging 5.4 million across the 90-minute programme, reports the Express.

Despite these numbers continuing to rise, Strictly has struggled to compete against another show hosted by Claudia Winkleman – Celebrity Traitors.

The Traitors’ inaugural star-studded spin-off has captivated the nation as 19 celebrities – including Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie, Kate Garraway, and Alan Carr – engaged in the thrilling game of deception.

Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly

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Strictly has been beaten in the ratings(Image: Justin Goff Photos, Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images)

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The series has been a resounding success, attracting almost double the number of viewers as Strictly Come Dancing.

According to BARB figures, Celebrity Traitors dominated BBC viewing ratings with its third episode leading the charts with an impressive 13,229,100 viewers.

Coming in second in the list of the weekly top 50 shows was the programme’s fourth episode. The instalment, which saw sports presenter Clare Balding banished from the castle, drew 12,851,300 viewers.

Celebrity Traitors

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Celebrity Traitors has been a big hit with audiences(Image: BBC)

Trailing behind was Strictly’s seventh episode, which attracted 7,379,400 people, whilst 6,848,400 tuned in for its eighth episode.

Claudia hosts Celebrity Traitors alone, but fronts Strictly with Tess Daly. However, the pair recently dropped a major bombshell, revealing they will be departing the show following series 23.

In their joint statement, the pair said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

Celebrity Traitors host Claudia Winkleman

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Claudia fronts Celebrity Traitors(Image: BBC)

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day.

“We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’ but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza. Tess & Claud.”

Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Traitors both air on BBC One