Strictly Come Dancing audience up as show returns

6 September 2015

The contestants on Strictly Come Dancing perform their first group dance — Image caption,
This year's line-up includes Peter Andre, Carol Kirkwood, Daniel O'Donnell and Georgia May Foote

The opening episode of Strictly Come Dancing was watched by 8.7 million people on Saturday night, up from 8.4 million last year.

The most-watched launch in the show's history, it beat ITV's X Factor, which attracted an average audience of 7.5 million later in the evening.

The show paired 15 celebrities with the professional dancers who will train them for the next three weeks.

It also saw dancer Ola Jordan suffer an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

The Pole was paired with former athlete Iwan Thomas, who hoisted her awkwardly into the air in celebration.

"In this one second, he ripped my skirt, broke my nail and my boobs popped out," Jordan later revealed on Twitter, external.

Ola Jordan / Twitter

Jordan, who is married to former Strictly professional dancer James Jordan, has only recently recovered from a knee injury from competing in the Channel 4 skiing series The Jump. There had been doubts over whether she could dance again.

The return of Strictly also featured the return of last year's winners Caroline Flack and her partner Pasha Kovalev, who reprised their semi-final Salsa, which received a perfect score from the judges.

Singer Jess Glynne also performed her number one single, Hold My Hand, while the class of 2015 performed their first group number.

A peak audience of 9.7 million was watching at 20:10 BST, as BBC Breakfast presenter Carol Kirkwood learned Kovalev would be her professional partner.

The show overlapped by 20 minutes with its ITV rival, which may have contributed to X Factor's lower average ratings.