And then we came to the end. Not the world (sorry, Mayans!), though to loyal sequin superfans or anyone not seduced by Louis's "guns", it may feel that way. Still, we now have our Strictly champions after an action-packed night featuring three gosh-no-not-at-all-trained girls and one acrobat with his top off.

Last night's hotly-contested Sports Personality of the Year was a showcase not just of achievement (and facial hair), but of the qualities we look for in our heroes: grace under pressure, perseverance in the face of overwhelming obstacles, commitment, humility and passion in your pursuit – a passion shared with others.

Not to sound too Twenty Twelve, but this year has been all about legacy, inspiring a generation, and though that may seem a rather lofty ambition for a reality dance show, surely we can look for some of those qualities in our finalists?

This week’s Strictly caused almighty (con)fusion. Did the gimmick bring something new to the show? Yes. Did it work? Um…not exactly.

The message of this week's Strictly is that we must beware the ballroom gods. Sometimes they are benevolent, and bestow sequinned favours upon us, but sometimes we invoke their wrath. And the wrath of the ballroom gods is a terrible thing to behold.

Thus it came to pass that Kimberley, with her array of knee and hip injuries, had to contend with the physically taxing jive; Denise, who showed a chink in the armour with cha cha, and James, openly professing hatred for non-standard dances, the salsa; ballroom boy Michael the samba; Latin girl Lisa the quickstep; youngster Dani the Viennese; distinctly unsexy Nicky the Argentine tango; and, most gloriously of all, Louis, he of the lost personality, the character-driven Charleston.