Strictly Come Dancing 2024 final: how does scoring and voting work on BBC show?

• Strictly Come Dancing will crown a winner for 2024 tonight.
• The public and the judges will both have a say in the result.
• How exactly is the winner decided - and what is publicly known?

A new winner of Strictly Come Dancing will be crowned in just a few hours. The start time has been confirmed - and the BBC has revealed the result will be confirmed tonight (December 14).

Just four couples remain in the show and will battle it out for the Glitterball Trophy. However one has been named the clear favourite by the bookies with a few hours to go before the final starts.

If you are planning to vote - or even just considering it - you might be wondering how the scoring works. Let’s take a look shall we:

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How do the judges' scores work in Strictly Come Dancing?

After the couples have danced - and they will take on multiple routines in the final - the judges will score the celeb out of 10. So for each routine the couples can get a maximum score of 40, which occurred twice in the semi-final last week.

However the result is not solely based on the judges scores, although that does play a role. The leaderboard - prior to the lines opening - is based on the combined scores from the dances the celebs take on during the final.

In a piece on BBC Bitesize, Norman Biggs, emeritus professor of mathematics at the London School of Economics, explained: “The judges award the contestants scores out of 40. The scores are then converted into a ranking list of points. If there are six contestants and no ties, the list would be: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

How is the winner of Strictly 2024 decided?

The judges' scores don’t solely decide the result of Strictly Come Dancing, the public still has a chance to have their say. Lines will open during the final - this will be announced by the hosts Claudia and Tess - and you can have a say on who is crowned the winner tonight (Saturday).

Like the judges’ scores, Professor Briggs explained that the voting results are converted into a numerical score. He added: “The public vote produces a similar list, but because the number of votes is large, it is practically impossible for ties to occur, so the list always contains all the numbers from 6 to 1 in some order (based on six contestants being left.”

How can you vote in the Strictly Come Dancing final?

If you are wanting to back any of the celebs to win in 2024 - whether that be Chris, JB, Tasha and Sarah - you will want to make sure you know how to vote. It could not be simpler, in fact you can go straight to BBC’s website once the line is open to make your pick.

A QR code will appear on screen during the final, so you can scan that and it will take you to the BBC voting website. And according to the Beeb, the couples will be listed in alphabetical order.

Who do you think will win Strictly Come Dancing in 2024? Share your predictions by emailing me: [email protected].