2010 - Series 8 facts and stats

• Series 8 has the 2nd highest average weekly viewing figures of 11.07 million, second only to S15 with 11.14 million
• Tweaks to the show’s format continued in S8 as not one but two couples were eliminated by combined judge score and public vote in the Semi-Final, plus we saw the addition of a Final night elimination to reduce from 3 down to 2 final couples on the night
• The dance-off was ditched; in Series 8 and 9; the lowest placed couple on the combined leaderboard (judges’ scores and public vote) was eliminated each week, from Week 2 onwards
• Week 5 saw the first ever Halloween Week show; Pamela & James performed the first Halloween routine, a Jive to ‘Devil Gate Drive’ by Suzi Quatro and scored 27
• The legendary ‘a-thon’ moniker was coined, with a Week 11 Swing-a-thon ‘won’ by Kara & Artem who took the maximum 5 points
• The only perfect final night dance was performed by Pamela Stephenson & James; their ‘double-40’ Viennese Waltz to ‘Unchained Melody’ by The Righteous Brothers (from ‘Ghost’) still saw them eliminated from the Final leaving Kara & Artem and Matt & Aliona to fight it out
• This year saw Strictly’s oldest finalist; at 79, Angela Rippon is the oldest ever contestant, Bill Bailey is the oldest winner at 55 but the oldest finalist ever is Pamela, who was 61 when she danced in the S8 Final