Strictly Come Dancing judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli have admitted that some mistakes were made on the show this year and that BBC would need to ‘tweak’ the format for the 2010 series.

“Bruno and I both agree that having 16 couples was too much,” Goodman said. “At the beginning, people had to sit through two and a half hours. Most shows and series that run for several years have ups and downs. I think the BBC is right in trying to tweak it. It’s like a plant – it needs to be pruned occasionally.”

Both Goodman and Tonioli took a pay cut when they returned to the show this year and admitted that they would do again if necessary.

“We understood that we had to take a pay cut,” Tonioli explained. “Everyone did. Everyone is suffering. It was never a question. We just said, ‘Of course we will do it’. We could have said no, but we wanted to keep doing the show.

“We are definitely not doing it for the money, not even close. We just love it and feel very loyal to the show. If we hadn’t done Strictly we wouldn’t have been doing the American version, Dancing With The Stars. I would have just continued to choreograph films, and Len would have been doing his dance school.

“Strictly has changed our lives. And we are very grateful for it. At the end of the day, if it wasn’t for this, we wouldn’t be here.”