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Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly hosted their last Strictly final on Saturday – Guy Levy/BBC

Her Majesty the Queen was among the millions who tuned in to the Strictly Come Dancing final. Like the rest of us, I doubt she was surprised at the result. Former Lioness Karen Carney went in as the bookies’ favourite and emerged as the worthy winner. YouTuber George Clarke missed out on the Glitterball trophy but looked as if he was having the time of his life anyway. West End actress Amber Davies knew in her heart that she wasn’t going to get the votes, and sweetly lied that she’d prefer one of the other two to win instead.

The studio was awash with tears: the contestants, the presenters, and – we can guess – the BBC executives wondering how on earth they’re going to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, a pairing so intrinsic to the show that the Queen sent in a tribute describing them as “perhaps the greatest Strictly partnership of all” (sorry, Bruce). It was a finale in more ways than one: the culmination of this year’s contest, and the end of an era.

This is either the point at which Strictly future-proofs itself – choosing its replacement presenters wisely, attracting higher-calibre celebrities and finding a way to stay clear of further scandal – or it marks the beginning of the end. We all know what happened to Top Gear and A Question of Sport after a changing of the guard.

Karen Carney and Carlos Gu lift the Glitterball trophy – Guy Levy/BBC

Back to the competition, though, and what a moment this was for Carney. She had trained as a dancer in her schooldays so didn’t come into it as a novice, but the former England footballer underwent a transformation during her weeks on the show. Unconfident to the point of apologetic in the early weeks, she blossomed as the competition went on.

While it’s customary for the contestants to thank their professional partners for changing their lives, here it was the other way round. “I was self-centred. I was me, me, me. No wonder I didn’t get a partner last year, because I’m not grateful. She taught me how to be a kind, humble person,” sobbed Carlos Gu, who has superseded Johannes Radebe as the show’s weepiest pro. From the moment the judges awarded Carney and Gu four 10s for their Peaky Blinders jive, the result seemed a foregone conclusion.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that Strictly is fixed. I’ll leave that to Thomas Skinner, the only contestant not to come back for the group dance. He claims that the BBC rigged the voting to get rid of him in week one, on account of his friendship with JD Vance, and is reportedly planning to sue.

Thomas Skinner was the first contestant to be voted out this series – Guy Levy/BBC

In a social media post, he suggested that Claudia and Tess have quit the show over this fakery. And it goes higher: “a very senior BBC executive” quit his job because he knew this dark truth would come out. “It’s just all very coincidental,” Skinner said. And there we were, thinking Tim Davie’s resignation as director-general was about Panorama and Donald Trump.

Skinner does not seem to consider the facts that he was the show’s worst dancer and had just been exposed for cheating on his wife weeks after their wedding, by sleeping with a beautician who had offered him a free fat-melting treatment, to be factors in his lack of public support. Let’s keep an open mind, though. Remember, the BBC did once rig a vote to name the Blue Peter cat.

Provided that Skinner doesn’t bring down the show, the big question is: who will replace Tess and Claudia?

Zoe Ball used to present the Strictly Spin-off It Takes Two – Ray Burmiston

The BBC already has a shortlist and is planning to test the chemistry between various pairings. Zoe Ball and Rylan Clark would be the obvious choice – Ball, who has just quit her Radio 2 show, is a Beeb veteran and a safe pair of hands, while Clark has Claudia’s qualities of being empathetic, quick on his feet and happy to send himself up. They have worked together before on the Strictly spin-off It Takes Two.

But Alan Carr shot up the leader board after his winning performance on Celebrity Traitors. And nobody is working harder to get the job than La Voix, aka drag performer Christopher Dennis, who joked throughout the series about wanting to take over from Claudia but really meant it. The BBC hired Dennis to host the pre-final press conference last week, chatting to the couples in front of an audience, and he did it very well. Angela Scanlon and Alex Jones have also been suggested; so have Alison Hammond, Holly Willoughby and Amanda Holden, although all three are ITV to their core.

The BBC will also be asking itself whether a wider refresh is needed. That could mean changes to the format (those cheesy videos of couples having a lovely time in rehearsals can surely go, especially given what past bullying scandals have told us about the unpleasantness that can go on behind the scenes). And if it really wanted to be bold, it could shake up the judging panel.

The Government cites Strictly, in its green paper on the future of the BBC, as an example of risk-taking TV: “It is easy to forget that the BBC took a risk to revive a format from the 1950s about the world of competitive ballroom dancing” with no guarantee that it would be a hit. The corporation must now decide whether to take some more of those risks or to play it safe.