After nearly three months of intense competition, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ has a winner! Former ‘Xtra Factor’ host Caroline Flack was voted the best of the three remaining contestants along with her professional dance partner Pasha Kovalev.

Former pop stars Frankie Bridge (of The Saturdays) and Simon Webbe (of Blue) were the runners-up in the final vote, while former ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ star Mark Wright was voted off in fourth place in an earlier stage of the final.

Caroline Flack
Winner! Caroline Flack was crowned 'Strictly...' 2014 champion on Saturday night

This year’s final was also notable for Flack receiving a perfect score of 40 from the judges for all three of her dances, the first time it has ever happened. She had been the bookies’ hot favourite to scoop the grand prize even before the final began.

Reacting to her victory, Flack breathlessly exclaimed "It's the best feeling in the world, mostly because of Pasha but also all the other contestant who've been so lovely.” Her partner Kovalev added "’Strictly…’ is a big family and I'm glad Caroline could experience that. I can't imagine a better partner.”

During the show, Flack and Kovalev performed three dances, including a Cha Cha Cha, an ambitious freestyle piece and a final Charleston when asked to select their favourite dance from the series.

At the start of the evening, each of the four pairs was asked to do a routine from earlier on in the series picked by the judges (Len Goodman, Bruno Toniloi, Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood). When reviewing what they’d seen, they found themselves quickly running out of superlatives. Bussell went as far as to say it was “like watching a contemporary ballet” when rating the Cha Cha Cha.

The latest series has been one of the most successful yet in terms of viewership, demonstrating that even after more than a decade the ‘Strictly…’ format has a lot of life left in yet.

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