With a brand new judge, elaborate group performances and Craig Revel Horwood literally doing a number in drag, you might argue that the current series of Strictly Come Dancing has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at us.
However, as the show draws to a close for another year, judge Bruno Tonioli has admitted he feels there’s been something missing this time around – a bit of romance.
At this stage, we probably don’t need to remind you about the so-called Strictly “curse”, which has seen a large number of celebrities and professionals splitting up with their long-term partners either during or shortly after the series, many of whom have gone on to get together with their professional partners.
The “curse” is a bit of a contentious issue for many people on Strictly, but for Bruno, it’s apparently not just something he enjoys, but something he has missed on the show in 2019.
“I’ve never had anything wrong with the romances,” he told The Sun. “It’s actually quite nice when they get together. It’s life.
“It adds a bit of frisson of excitement when it happens on the dancefloor. So I think I was missing that a little bit in this series.”
From last year’s series, three of the final four celebrities are now in relationships with people they met on Strictly.
Eventual winner Stacey Dooley and Joe Sugg are both coupled up with their professional dance partners, Kevin Clifton and Dianne Buswell, while Ashley Roberts is dating Giovanni Pernice.
Then, of course, there’s comedian Seann Walsh, who made headlines when he was caught on camera kissing his professional partner Katya Jones after a night out in London, despite both of them being in relationships with other people at the time.
Only three celebrities remain in this year’s competition, with Emma Barton, Karim Zeroual and Kelvin Fletcher set to fight it out for the Glitterball Trophy in Friday night’s live final.