“You’re my favourites!”

12 hours later, and I still can’t quite believe it. In case you were watching a load of singing binmen on the other side, the finale of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1 proved to be an unforgettable experience, largely for all the wrong reasons.

Far and away the best dancers throughout the entire competition, Colin Jackson and his partner Erin blew certain victory right at the last minute, entering the final dance-off with the worst routine ever seen on the show, a dire “dancing with dummies” number which I’m sure turned up on the Generation Game more than once, although Brucie was far too polite to mention it.

You could tell they’d lost it from the half-hearted boos during the judges’ rather polite slaggings-off (“brave … not to my taste”), and you could tell Darren Gough and Lilia had won it from the standing ovation they got for their final routine.

Most posters on the DigitalSpy forums (yeah, yeah) reckon Darren must have been leading in the phone vote before the dance-off, suggesting that Colin’s terrible routine made no difference. Darren couldn’t have qualified for the dance-off otherwise, as he had the least points from the judges. But given that Brucie announced the number of votes cast on the night had gone from three million to five million in the dance-off, those dummies must have had an effect on the result.

I can’t believe I’m discussing all this anyway. It just goes to prove what an infectiously entertaining show this is. Being the final, we also got Brucie hollering and hoofing through Let’s Face the Music And Dance, surrounded by a bevy of lovelies. And isn’t that all we want on telly on a winter’s Saturday night?