BBC “looking into” what caused Strictly Come Dancing sound problem

Other pairings on the launch show include Brendan Cole, a professional dancer on Strictly since the first series, waltzing away with United States singer Anastacia while Anton du Beke, who has also been there since the beginning, teamed up with Birds Of A Feather actress Lesley Joseph.

Irish presenter Whitmore’s Strictly partner, Italian dancer Pernice, has just come out of a relationship with Georgia May Foote – the actress recently announced their split on Twitter.

Many claimed his dancing prowess on Saturday night’s show offered the flawless antidote to the UK’s turbulent political climate which has been marred by months of instability and in-fighting across the party spectrum.

Model Lowe is with Skorjanec, who won Strictly with model Abbey Clancy in 2013.

She added: ‘It was pretty tough and thank God I had Louise Redknapp there.

TV star Judge Rinder is with Oksana Platero and Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane with fellow new Strictly pro dancer AJ Pritchard.

Daisy Lowe put on a fearless face at the launch of Strictly Come Dancing as it was revealed her grandfather had died just hours before the official launch of the show.

The 14th series of the popular Saturday night show landed 10.1m viewers at its peak and and average of 9.3m.

Despite a revamp by Simon Cowell, its launch show was watched by 6.8 million (34% share) with a peak of 7.5 million.

Last night, the third audition episode, and the first one to feature auditions in Ireland in several years, ended up drawing 8.3 million viewers.

The 14th series of the ballroom dancing show, which beat The X Factor in the ratings past year, officially goes live in three weeks.

Despite the commendable figures, neither show has managed to beat The Great British Bake Off though, which raked in a staggering 10.4 million viewers last month.

Strictly proved more popular than The X Factor, which attracted 8.3m viewers.

Earlier this year a public outcry apparently forced John Whittingdale, then the culture secretary, to backtrack over proposals previously aired in the press to ban the BBC from scheduling big-hitting productions such as Strictly head-to-head with flagship programmes on its commercial rival, ITV.