Strictly Come Dancing (franchise)

Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars) is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, itself a successor to the show Come Dancing (1950–1998). It is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. As of 2012, the format has been licensed to 60 territories.

Versions have also been produced in dozens of countries across the world. As a result, the series became the world's most popular television programme among all genres in 2006 and 2007, according to the magazine Television Business International, reaching the Top 10 in 17 countries.

The show pairs a number of well known celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, who each week compete by performing one or more choreographed routines that follow the prearranged theme for that particular week. The dancers are then scored by a panel of judges. Viewers are given a certain amount of time to place votes for their favorite dancers, either by telephone or (in some countries) online. The couple with the lowest combined score provided by the judges and viewers is eliminated. This process continues until there are only two, three, or four couples left; when they have competed for the last time one couple is declared the champion and wins a trophy.