Strictly Come Dancing 2022: Hamza Yassin wins glitterball trophy

Wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin has been crowned this year’s Strictly Come Dancing champion on BBC One.

The Animal Park, Let’s Go For A Walk and Countryfile host had never had any dance lessons before taking part, but soon became the bookmakers’ favourite.

He was known for his daring lifts with dance partner Jowita Przystal – and went on to lift the glitterball trophy in Saturday’s live final.

He beat Molly Rainford, Fleur East and Helen Skelton to the coveted prize.

After the three advisory scores were given by the judges, Yassin and Przystal were bottom on 113 points. But it was the public vote that decided who took the title for 2022.

Yassin, 32, thanked viewers for voting for them, adding: “This is the best thing that has every happened to me”.

He said: “Words can’t describe how I feel. I want to thank one person in particular. Jovita – you are an angel disguised as a human being.”

As usual, one of the three dances in the grand final was chosen by the judges, one was their own favourite dance from the series, and the other was a show dance.

Hamza and Jowita did a salsa to Ecuador by Sash! featuring Rodriguez, a couple’s choice to Jerusalema by Master KG, and a show dance to Let’s Face The Music And Dance by Irving Berlin.

Other highlights included Helen doing a jive to Tightrope by Janelle Monae, Molly dancing her quickstep to Love On Top by Beyonce, and Fleur performing her couple’s choice dance to a Destiny’s Child megamix.

None of the professional dancers in this year’s final had won Strictly before. Vito Coppola and Carlos Gu, who partner Fleur and Molly respectively, were new to the show.

Przystal was paired with Hamza, her first Strictly partnership since joining the show in 2021, not including last year’s Christmas special when she danced with Adrian Chiles.

Gorka Marquez, who was with Helen, has made the final before but never won.

The final four couples made it through from last week’s semi-final, which saw actor Will Mellor and his partner Nancy Xu eliminated.

They were separated by six points after the judges’ gave scores for guidance. East and Coppola were top of the leaderboard on 119 points, followed by Skelton and Marquez on 116 points, and Rainford and Gu on 155 – two points ahead of Yassin and Przystal.

This year’s Strictly has suffered some schedule changes due to the football World Cup taking place in Qatar, but Saturday’s show kicked as planned.

Strictly Come Dancing winner announced

Molly Rainford was this year’s youngest contestant and recently celebrated her 22nd birthday. She first found fame as a child when she auditioned as a singer on Britain’s Got Talent and ended up coming sixth in the final.

She currently stars in the CBBC series Nova Jones. Molly’s been in the dreaded dance-off four times in this Strictly series, but she keeps bouncing back. Her stunning Paso Doble in the semi-final was rewarded with a score of 39 out of 40.

Singer and radio presenter Fleur East had her fair show of dance-off showdowns, but has hung in there and earned high praise from the judges.

She and Vito provided one of this series’ highlights when they managed to get Craig Revel Horwood to bring out his 10 paddle for the first time this series in honour of her Beyoncé-style couple’s choice routine in Blackpool. She ended up with the perfect score, 40 out of 40.

TV presenter Helen Skelton quietly and determinedly fought her way to the final.

The audience gave Craig the biggest boos of the season – and that’s saying something – when he only gave her nine out of 10 for her couple’s choice dance two weeks ago. Her Cabaret-style performance was given top marks by Shirley Ballas, Anton du Beke and Motsi Mabuse, however.

Wildlife camera operator and presenter Hamza Yassin became known for his daring lifts with Jowita.

His African-inspired couple’s choice dance last month reduced Motsi to tears (in a good way). He had never danced formally or had any lessons before taking part in the show.

This series – the BBC show’s 20th – began in September with 15 celebrities in the running including singer Matt Goss, actress Kym Marsh and Paralympian Ellie Simmonds.

Marsh missed one week due to contracting Covid-19, while football star Tony Adams had to withdraw due to injury ahead of a dance-off earlier in the series.

Du Beke formally took Bruno Tonioli’s seat at the judges’ desk after the Italian left the show to concentrate on its equivalent in the US, Dancing with the Stars.