I had intended to write a wrap up of the 2011 Strictly Come Dancing competition, but sort of didn’t and then it was too late. However, by popular demand, and given that Strictly is in the news today, it seems worthwhile finishing up the batch of posts with a belated summary.

In my half time report, I predicted the finalists as Chelsee, Jason and Alex. Two out of three isn’t bad but of course, it was Harry that made it in instead of Alex. She and Holly were knocked out in the semi-final, and that was probably the right result in the end. I was disappointed that Holly couldn’t push herself further but there always seemed to be something holding her back. She seems to have done quite well out of the deal now, though, becoming the face of the Euro Millions lottery.

The final itself was an interesting battle. I think it was let down a little as it seemed from the very beginning that Harry would be the winner - he has a massive McFly fanbase, and didn’t really do too much wrong during the show itself,  winning over Craig as he went. I thought Chelsee let herself down in the final. She’s just as good, if not better, than Harry but the occasion seemed to get to her. I was quite surprised by a lot of the judge’s scores (although they were being quite nice as it was the final) because a lot of the dances seemed scrappy and nervy to me. It was particularly obvious because they did a couple of dances they’ve done before and they just weren’t as good.

The big disappointment was that Jason went out when he did. I haven’t really been a fan of him through the series, and I’ve been liking Kristina less and less, but you can’t fault his effort and enthusiasm, and I don’t think he was third best overall. His show dance had proper dancing in it, too, which can’t be said for all of them.

Still, he was third, Chelsee came second, and Harry took the glitterball trophy home. Perhaps it was the right result on the night, I don’t really know. Because I was expecting it all along, I’m not sure in the end how I felt about it. I do know that by the end of the series I was a little Strictlyed out and had to give up watching It Takes Two and all the peripheral website stuff. I couldn’t even bear the Christmas Special. This will last all year long, and I will proclaim not to want to watch next series, but then I will be right back there on BBC One HD when the 2012 celebrities take to the floor. I just know it.

Interestingly, the news today came out that Aleesha will be leaving the judging panel to head over to ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent instead. I’m not sure how well she’ll do over there, but it leaves big question marks over who will replace her. Is it too much to ask that Arlene comes back? At least she had genuine opinions.

Roll on Autumn 2012 then!