Strictly Come Dancing final 2018: Stacey Dooley beams as she returns home with boyfriend after being crowned champion

Strictly Come Dancing winner Stacey Dooley has been pictured beaming as she returned home with her boyfriend after lifting the show’s glitterball trophy on Saturday.

The journalist, 31, was seen leaving the Village Hotel Watford the morning after being crowned champions of Strictly Come Dancing’s 2018 final with dance partner Kevin Clifton.

Pictures show Dooley leaving the hotel grinning from ear-to-ear with her personal trainer boyfriend Sam Tucknott, 30.

The pair made their way back home to Brighton after celebrating Dooley's win at a Strictly wrap party.

It came after Dooley posted on Twitter on Sunday morning to joke about accidentally flashing her nude underwear during her final Paso Doble routine on Saturday night.

The TV personality, who beat fellow finalists Ashley Roberts, Faye Tozer and Joe Sugg to claim the trophy, wrote: “I’ve won strictly and flashed my knickers. A perfect Sat night.”

Dooley, from Luton, and Clifton, from Grimsby, were embraced by the show's dancers and celebrities on the Strictly dancefloor after their win.

Dooley was at first speechless. However, after a moment she turned to Clifton, dedicating her win to him by saying: "I should say something quite poignant, shouldn't I?

“You know how highly I think of you. I think you are the biggest gem. It's no surprise you have been in the final as many times as you have.

"It's daunting doing something you haven't done before. But he's so patient and he walks you through. You so deserve this. You so deserve this."

The professional dancer replied: "Thank you so much, not just for being so amazing and for dancing so well, but for being the most wonderful person to work with, to spend every day training with.

"You've worked so hard. You are so lovely and I think the absolute world of you."

Strictly Come Dancing attracted a peak of 12.7 million viewers for this year’s final.

The conclusion to the hit series saw a drop on last year's figures, when Joe McFadden lifted the glitterball trophy in front of a peak audience of 13.1 million.

Saturday night's instalment was seen by an average of 11.7 million, slightly up on the 11.6 million watching the end of the celebrity dance competition in 2017.

The audience share was 54.4%, slightly down on last year's figure of 55.9%.

Overnight ratings made the finale the most watched episode of this year's series.

The second-largest average audience, 10.6 million, came after comedian Seann Walsh and his married dance partner Katya Jones became embroiled in a kissing scandal.

The 2010 series of Strictly, won by actress Kara Tointon with Artem Chigvintsev, remains the most-watched final with a total audience of 14.3 million.