Seriously what another fab series this has been. It's been incredible. I think we can be sure they'll bag the NTA again.

Well anyway...

Firstly, well done Caroline and Pascha. She's been amazing these last few weeks. Its given her confidence. Pasha finally winning (i wanted him to win with Kimberley too). A well deserved winner, it obvious they would win tonight.
Simon - to me he is second place even though BBC will never reveal the figures. I think he may have even come close to beating her tonight. He was clearly liked tonight, had a great journey and he's impressed me to no end for someone who before this found him very unlikeable and up himself.
Frankie - i think she had a great night tonight yet again, i don't think she quite had the buzz to win it but a worthy runner up technically although i think she must have surely have been in 3rd tonight. Done a great job and again someone i knew before who done it well.
Mark - i never liked Mark untill now. Throughout this series he has seriously managed to impress me and he deserved his place in the final, clearly he was fourth tonight but he has proven himself to actually go from nothing to something.
All the other contestants have been fab. I love how all of them support each other perhaps not the same on other reality tv shows.
The pro's really are an impressive bunch right? I've been very impressed actually even how hard they all must work on the group and performances for music as well.

Special mentions to Pixie and Jake. I don't like Jake if i am honest abit of a one hit wonder and Pixie i thought would win the whole thing from day 1 but they were incredible but Len did make his choice.

The judges - seriously Darcy, Craig, Bruno and Len are a perfect judging panel. It was never right with Alesha for me but Darcy came in and it's been amazing since. Don't change the panel they just are perfect.

Tess and Claudia. Well i wasn't for the decision at the start at how she replaced Bruce but Claudia you have been incredible, funny and entertaining. Tess you really have stepped it up and been a very commanding main presenter on this. Zoe on ITT as well it's all been fab.

Overall a fab finale liked it very much. I nearly laughed out loud when Barlow and gang Take That arrived again. Honestly how they come to the final of everything is insane! XF now this, i expect them to be on the Apprentice tomorrow too ha ha. Well another week and another of my reality tv shows come to an end, Strictly is a massive commitment i have to dedicate at least two hours of week to keep up to date with it but it's a joy of a show, almost another planet! everyone's so upbeat and happy ha, but i'll miss it. Well done all involved. DS spoiler gang for the spoilers and i'm rather emotional now as i backed Caroline from day one didn't think she'd win it but she's lucky Pixie and Jake left they could have really challenged her tonight. After Instabul there was no way she was not winning. I thought she might come 4th but at least my fave won!

Well done ALL involved.

What a nice positive thread! I agree with much of what you say it's been one of my favourite series

Yes indeed, a thoroughly enjoyable series!

At the start of the year the doom-mongers were forecasting the end of Strictly when Fforsyth ffinally went.

Not only were they completely wrong, Strictly survived, it prospered and was more enjoyable and watchable than it had been for some years.

Less overbearing presentation.
Time for Judges comments.
Nice attitude to the celebs.
Good personal chats after each dance.

Two perennial 'bad' things though.

Too many poor, weak or simply 'past it' guests to act as fillers rather than entertainment.

The Vt's as puerile and irrelevant as ever.

Otherwise ....

... Looking forward to next year.

I have loved this series but not sad, that its over.

Tbh, the main reason that I loved this series is because of Simon and Kristina. I just loved watching them dance together and they had a beautiful partnership. They were a joy to watch because you could tell that they loved dancing, together. Kristina is a brilliant teacher. They even made me, break, my no voting rule. I'm so glad that they were in the top 3!

Yes I did enjoy it, but have found it even more contrived than before and I'm starting to fall out of love with it:

Pixie going despite the fact we all knew she was the better dancer - just so that they could get a novice to the final stages, rather than have it full of dancers with previous experience.
The manipulation of the scores so we have certain celebs in certain orders to protect them from the public votes
The sycophantic final - everyone was A-MA-ZING
The constant standing ovations - all brought on by the production crew (I know, I've been there)
Donny Osmond - nuff said
The themed weeks - can we not just see them dance please?
The training clips - or more to the point, the lack of them. If you didn't watch ITT, you'd never see their training

And of course there's the usual gripes:
Blackpool - so what?
Camera work - grrrr!
Len objecting to when the crowd boo him

Presentation I have found to be very good on the whole, the three ladies have all done a great job.

I've enjoyed seeing nearly all the cast this time, a few awkward moments for sure but over all a watchable bunch. I also think they got the novice/intermediate/advanced balance right, but then I don't mind having that mix, so long as it's clear (sly reference to another thread there )

I think they have to be careful using backing dancers in future, on occasions they worked IMO, or at least did not detract (the ultimate comparison being Caroline's Charleston, which to me worked both ways) and on others they didn't.

I think they should fight shy of over theming dances and/or weeks, and I am not sure if I would like them to try any other gimmicks like the partner-swap that they do on DWTS, it's a can of worms in terms of viewer support and the like, but would be interesting as a spectacle.

I really hope they try harder to match music to dances next year. Some of the combinations beggared belief IMO.

In terms of ITT, I'd like to see more of some of the ideas they tried out this time, including more ex contestants and ex pros to be involved in various ways.

Pros - no doubt there will be the odd change here and there - but I have no particular gripes. Ditto the judges (on the latter point).

My take on this series was mostly how brilliant Kristina is, SCD royalty in my eyes !

She really is!