Strictly Come Dancing (series 7)
Strictly Come Dancing returned for its seventh series on 18 September 2009 on BBC One. Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly returned as presenters of the main show on BBC One, whilst Claudia Winkleman presented spin-off show "" on BBC Two. Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood returned as judges. Series 5 winner Alesha Dixon joined the judging panel as a replacement for Arlene Phillips. Darcey Bussell (who would later become a permanent judge from 2012 until 2018) was a guest judge from the quarter final onwards. Series 6 winner Camilla Dallerup, series 4  winner Karen Hardy and Hayley Holt were replaced as professional female dancers by Aliona Vilani, Katya Virshilas and Natalie Lowe. The show on 7 November was filmed from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom for the first time since the Grand Final of series 2. Due to illness, Forsyth did not feature in the show on 14 November. As a result, Daly took over as main presenter and Ronnie Corbett was a surprise guest. Winkleman took over Daly's normal role. The series was won by sports presenter Chris Hollins and his professional partner Ola Jordan. Format. Each week since, 18 September  2009 to 19 December 2009. The couples dance a new routine (either a ballroom dance or a Latin dance) hoping to impress judges: Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli. Each judge reviews the performance and then give a mark out of 10, giving the maximum score to 40. Once everyone has performed, they are ranked on the judges' leaderboard. So, for example if 10 couples were dancing: The highest scoring couple/joint highest scoring couple receives 10 points. The lowest scoring couple will be getting one point. Couples. There were 16 couples in this series. Scoring  chart. Average chart. This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 40-points scale (scores from the group Viennese Waltz from Week 11 are not included and the scores from Weeks 12–14 are weighted to work on the same scale as Weeks 1–11) Highest and lowest scoring performances of the series. The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' scores (out of 40) are as follows: Weekly scores and songs. "Unless indicated othwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Craig Revel  Horwood, Len Goodman, Alesha Dixon, Bruno Tonioli." Week 10. Musical guest: Dame Shirley Bassey—"This Time" "Individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Len Goodman, Alesha Dixon, Bruno Tonioli." TV ratings. Weekly ratings for each show on BBC1. Figures exclude the BBC HD Channel. All numbers are in millions and provided by BARB In September 2009 "Strictly Come Dancing" earned a place in Guinness World Records as "most successful reality television format", with licensing rights sold to broadcasters in 38 countries. Nonetheless, the sixth  series' audiences had suffered as a result of direct clashes with ITV rival "The X Factor". The BBC's decision in August 2009 to screen the seventh series on Saturday nights only was partly an attempt to reduce conflict with the rival talent show, as ITV had hinted that The X Factor's results show would be broadcast on Sunday evening. Sources at the BBC described the move as "better for the viewers... people at home lose out if things are competing against one another... We wanted to make Strictly Come Dancing an unmissable TV event". However, the BBC still  came under intense criticism when the extended Saturday show, initially running from 7–9pm, clashed almost entirely with The X Factor's main show. ITV sources accused the BBC of "effectively splitting the audience". Writing in "The Guardian" George Dixon, head of scheduling for BBC One, argued that "the ability of viewers to see programmes again, whether via personal video recorders like Sky+, online catch-up services including iPlayer or on channels such as E4 or ITV2, [makes] the notion of 'forcing' viewers to watch... outdated", adding that "There are around seven repeats of The X Factor on ITV1 and ITV2  each week". The scheduling conflict ended with The X Factor securing a higher audience throughout the series. On 22 October 2009, the BBC rescheduled the Saturday show, now down to eight contestants, so that the overlap between the two programs was only 45 minutes. The BBC denied that the move was in direct response to the success of its ITV rival, saying instead that the move was to accommodate a new series with impressionist Jon Culshaw. Strictly Come Dancing's runtime, previously fixed at two hours, was also expected to decrease as contestants were progressively eliminated, leading to a further  reduction in overlap.