DANCING WITH THE STARS WATCHED BY 24M VIEWERS

Producers said viewers voted in record numbers
The final of US show Dancing With The Stars attracted an average audience of 24 million people, network ABC said.

The episode, in which Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey was crowned the winner, attracted the show's biggest audience in three years, ABC said.

The network said numbers grew to 26.4 million in the last 30 minutes as the winners were revealed.

Disney Channel star Kyle Massey, 19, was voted runner-up with Bristol Palin, 20, taking 3rd place.

Producers said the public voted in record numbers for the three finalists, briefly crashing the show's website.

Grey, 50, told Good Morning America she had resisted pressure to recreate the iconic dance she performed with co-star Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.

They danced in the 1987 film to Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' Oscar-winning duet (I've Had) The Time of My Life.

“I knew everybody wanted us to do something with The Time of My Life – there was a lot of pressure for that.

“But I knew that was a dance for Patrick and me, and I wanted to leave it as such.”

Swayze died of pancreatic cancer in September 2009 at the age of 57.