Strictly Come Dancing judges and professionals have revealed they didn't think the show would last more than three weeks when it first started back in 2004.

The latest series of Strictly - which concluded last Saturday (December 14) with Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell taking home the glitterball trophy - marked the show's 20th anniversary.

To celebrate the occasion the BBC aired a documentary - Strictly Come Dancing: 20 Fabulous Years on Saturday (December 21) night.

The documentary went behind the scenes showing off iconic moments and interviews from past couples/professionals/judges as they delved into the 20 years of Strictly Come Dancing.

Strictly Come Dancing stars didn't think show would last 3 weeks

The first ever episode of Strictly Come Dancing aired on the BBC on May 18, 2004.

But speaking on Strictly Come Dancing: 20 Fabulous Years on Saturday night, both judges and professionals revealed that they were sceptical when the show first started.

Anton Du Beke revealed: "The BBC had approached the dancing business about wanting to know if there were some professional dancers that would like to be involved (in Strictly Come Dancing).

"And as an industry, I think we all sort of said no thanks really."

Chris and Dianne won the 20th anniversary edition of Strictly Come Dancing in 2024.Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell won Strictly Come Dancing 2024 which marked the 20th anniversary of the BBC show. (Image: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire) Erin Boag, who was a Strictly professional from 2004 to 2012, added: "The world of ballroom dancing thought they might take the mickey out of our sport."

While Craig Revel Horwood said: "Len [Goodman] and I gave it, literally, three weeks. But how wrong I was."

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Twenty years, more than 300 couples and over 2000 dances later, Revel Horwood admitted his initial thoughts were well and truly wrong.

He added: "It's gone to 60 countries worldwide and is one of the most produced formats in the world now, so its just amazing."

While Du Beke said: "It's still as brilliant today as its ever been. I still love it as much now as I did then."