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BBC announces major change to voting systems with Strictly Come Dancing to be impacted

Voting will be a little easier for audiences this year.

Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke hold up 10 paddles on Strictly Come Dancing.

BBC/Guy Levy

Published: Monday, 8 September 2025 at 1:19 pm

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The BBC has announced a major change in its voting system, with its offer of premium-rate phone voting now coming to an end.

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This means those looking to vote on their favourite shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, will now only be able to vote online, with the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel becoming the last major BBC show to offer premium-rate phone voting.

In the past, viewers have been able to vote by calling premium-rate numbers, but as noted by the BBC "this is now an outdated system and also expensive to run".

Online voting has been the go-to choice for plenty of viewers, with an overwhelming amount of the votes for last year's Strictly Come Dancing coming from online voters.

Graham Norton in a velvet pink blazer and black shirt, smiling ahead.

Graham Norton for Eurovision 2025. BBC/BBC Studios

So, for those who haven't used the online voting system before, now is the time to get yourself a BBC account as Strictly Come Dancing returns to screens in just under two weeks.

Having an account doesn't just let you vote, it also offers a more personalised BBC iPlayer experience, the ability to pick up shows across devices as well as local weather updates tailored to you.

If you don't have an account yet, you can sign up for free on the BBC website.

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Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday 20th September.

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Katelyn Mensah, smiling against a lime green background.

Katelyn MensahSenior Entertainment Writer

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.

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