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

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

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The much-loved ballroom competition started in September and millions tuned in for the launch show. 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.

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However, Strictly has struggled to compete against another BBC show that is also hosted by Claudia Winkleman – Celebrity Traitors.

The Traitors’ first celeb spin-off has captivated viewers, who have been gripped as the 19 celebrities – including Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie, Kate Garraway, and Alan Carr – have engaged in the thrilling game of deception.

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Claudia hosts both Strictly and Celebrity Traitors(Image: BBC)

The series has proved to be a huge hit, attracting almost double the number of viewers as Strictly Come Dancing.

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According to BARB figures, Celebrity Traitors dominated 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.

Lagging considerably behind was Strictly’s seventh episode, which attracted 7,379,400 people, whilst its eighth episode pulled in 6, 848,400.

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Celebrity Traitors has been a ratings winner(Image: BBC)

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.

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Viewers have been gripped by 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.”