Strictly 2017 Celebs are being announced...

[CaveMum]

First one confirmed is Mollie King (the blonde one from The Saturday's)

Not sure when the next one will be announced, just hope it's not like last year where they dragged it out for weeks!

And , it's nice to get to know her a bit before she's on strictly. I was intrigued whether she still sounded British, and she does!

I am ridiculously excited by Jonnie Peacock being in it. I have watched him race a couple of times and, having seen him on tv, he seems like such a lovely guy.

I really hope he does well

Dd2 has a bit of a thing for Johnnie Peacock so she will be delighted ☺

Love this thread. Sassy you can't just say "I know Tess in RL" and leave it there - we need details!

Cavemum thanks for the updated list.

Mollie King - have only seen tabloid snaps of her with that male model but she seems pleasant enough.
The Rev Richard Coles - love him. Very funny and warm.
Davood Ghadami - don't know him.
Ruth Langsford - love her. Articulate, funny, doesn't take herself seriously.
Gemma Atkinson - know her face but that's about it.
Simon Rimmer - only know of him from the Sunday programme but cannot stand the guy he works with on that show and in my mind he's closely linked with him.
Aston Merrygold - JLS - think he's friends with Louis Smith? Will probably see him popping up to give advice.
Susan Calman - love her from the News Quiz. Didn't know until reading this thread that she was on CBBC programmes.
Joe McFadden - Scottish actor from the High Road. He looks quite fed up in the Strictly promo picture.
Brian Conley - funny but could become irritating in the long run.
Charlotte Hawkins - GMTV presenter - ex Sky. Don't know her that well but seems pleasant enough.
Chizzy Akudulo - don't know her.
Alexandra Burke - X factor?
Johnny Peacock - great personality. Should be popular and yes, a shame Natalie isn't there to be his partner.
Debbie McGee - hope she enjoys her time on the show.

American I have to...otherwise it will get picked up and go horribly wrong...shouldn't have said anything at all really! It's no biggie anyway I promise, very benign

I hope Debbie does well too. She looks like she has the potential to be good - she's very graceful and elegant. I am guessing she will be paired with Anton (or perhaps Pasha as she is tall?)

Debbie McGee used to be a ballet dancer before she paired up with Paul Daniels, so she could be worth a punt for the final.

I think Debbie was a ballet dancer i am sure i heard her say that on something so she should be quite graceful in ballroom and paired with Anton,

^ I don't want Debbie paired with Anton . She'll have to crane her neck like Lesley.
I would like her paired with Kevin. He gets someone older (but still ringy) and the forums can implode when they knock out Aston or Alexandra to make and lose the finals. My money's on Jonnie.

Ah that explains it - I thought she looked like a dancer (whatever that means in my head - no one could look less like a dancer than me )

I find it quite hard to tell how tall some of the professionals are - Kevin obviously short, and Brendan and Pasha I would guess quite tall. No idea about the others.
I will miss Natalie, I thought she was lovely. Is Katya still in it (Have I got her name right - with Ed last year ?) she is fun, I could see her with Jonny.

Brendan/Anton/Aljaz are the tallest men. One of them will get Ruth.
AJ and Kevin the shortest (although I think Kev adds an inch on!)
Karen/Nadija/Oti are the tallest ladies. One of them will get the Rev I think.
Janette is the shortest female pro so probably gets Aston. Dianne is 5.3 so fairly short.

Is Gio not a pro this year? He's a short arse too isn't he?

^ I always get them wrong anyway but also I know some think it's spoilery. Heights/predictions are in abundance over at Digital Spy. The main crux is two pros will sit out and no one knows who yet so it makes the pairings even harder to guess this year. If I was being cynical I'd stick Brendan with a newsreader (cos he can repeat his success with Kerplunsky), stick Gio and Gorka with single ladies for fauxmance and showmance and look at what worked last time (so a vixen with a gay judge means I'd stick Nadija with Richard).
I just wish they would do it based on heights though. Lesley could have gone further with Kevin I reckon.

Don't know soup. Some are saying AJ/Amy will sit out, others Neil/Amy. I'd bench Gio and Dianne but I'm not a huge Gio fan. I get it wrong year in, year out though so if you ignore everything I've said so far you might do well

Hope Neil has a partner this year. He was good in it takes two. Is this the year where the BBC has a same sex dancing couple like other countries?

I have done a bit of research on heights of the pros.

AJ - 1.71m
Gio - 1.76m
Pasha, Kevin & Aljaz - 1.78m
Anton & Brendan - 1.80m

Can't find heights for Gorka or Neil.

The girls are;
Janette - 1.52
Oti - 1.61 (although she seems to have said different heights at different times)
Karen and Katya - 1.65
Chloe - 1.70

Can't find heights for Dianne, Nadiya or Amy

What's interesting is that Chloe is one of the tallest girls and her professional dance partner is AJ, so I guess the height diff isn't everything.

I'm really happy with the line up, I think it's going to be great this year, cant wait for it to start

I am a little disappointed at the line up this year and I am generally optimistic about it (not one of those that moans every year about the 'nobodies').

Anyway, I am excited about Jonny and Simon as I think they have fab personalities which should help with votes.

Alexandra has to be the ringiest of all ringers EVER! I saw her in the Bodyguard a couple of years ago and there was a lot of dancing in it! She was bloody amazing in it and I don't dislike her but I don't want her to win on principle

Theromanempire regarding ringers I give you, off the top of my head: Jason Donovan, Natalie Gumede, Denise Van Outen, Tom Chambers. Even the divine Jay had considerable dance experience for which I forgave him as he came across so well.

Sassy so no more gos on Tess I seem to remember reading threads on here saying how unpleasant she was to people who approached her on the street. Wasn't she also a judge on some model show where she also didn't come across well?

I met Claudia one Christmas at Harrods. I was helping out on a school trip and spotted her. The teaching assistant asked me to approach her for a photo with the kids which I did and she was very nice. She was there with Eve Pollard, her mum, and a couple of her kids. I'm a big Claudia fan from her It Takes Two days.

soup Thanks for the height info. I would have thought Oti was a lot taller than 1.61. Surely Aljaz is taller than Kevin and Pasha? I thought he was at least the same height as Brendan and Anton. (My sister is 3 inches taller than me so I've always had an unhealthy interest in heights

I think they have to play safe and have a couple of ringers in there - otherwise you might get fifteen Ed Balls (I loved Ed, but without his personality his dancing would have been no fun to watch).

Caroline Flack was The Ringer to End All Ringers - she did a two year performing arts course at College and my dance teacher knows the teacher that taught her dance lessons!

I really disliked Caroline Flack. And I'm not normally bothered about ringers - Team Jay and Team Danny all the way here.

The thing is, people say "Oh but they've not done ballroom/latin" but the fact is ANY kind of dance training gives you an advantage. You have an understanding of rhythm, timing, musical phrasing as well as use of the body, isolation, etc.

Caroline flack made me through my remote down bang my wine glass and shout ah fuck off when she won, i wasn't a fan