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!

Sneaking in to say I bagsy Jonnie! ❤

Lol Margot ok that's fair enough

Especially because I do in fact tell everyone that I love Jonnie AGES ago so sassy... you and me outside? Let's settle this once and for all...

Dearest Soup, you may do well to heed the final part of my username...just sayin'!!!

Lol. I think you'll find that TRUE danger comes from the places you wouldn't expect...

Fightin' talk indeed Soup! Shame you need to be despatched....quite liked you as it goes, ah well...c'est la vie!

High all

Debbie looks like a highly adrenalised weasel wearing a wig from Barb Winsors hey day. I don't rate anyone's chances against that level of can do.

Susan is an angel.

The Rev is ace.

Jonnie is my favourite.

Did feel sorry for Tess. Which was a new feeling as I normally can't stand her. A yen that Woden should have a squirrel on her shoulder.

Love Claud.

I actually was pleasantly surprised by the dancing of the 'slebs too tbh.

The Rev was probably (sadly) the least able. But I have higher hopes for him in ballroom maybe?

I don't hate any of them (which is very unusual for me) and I love many of them (Rev, Susan, Jonnie, Joe, Debbie) and like most of the others, Gemma and Charlotte especially surprised me.

Tomorrow I will update the graph and we can see what affect the launch has had.

sassypants you can have Jonnie. I'm not 100% on board with the man bun.

Thanks Soup, very gracious of you lady, expected nothing less from you of course xx returns newly sharpened knife to draw

I'm glad that Janette finally has a partner who looks like he will be a good dancer. She's one of my favourite pros, I think her dancing is brilliant.

I would recommend following Susan and the Rev if you're on twitter. Both very entertaining.

I wonder if Debbie's ballet training will work against her. My teacher commented that ex-ballet dancers can find it difficult to transition into Ballroom/Latin as the way in which you move your body is so different/alien to their former training.

With Ballroom/Latin you're encouraged to dance with your body first, and the feet follow, whereas in ballet the movement is led by the feet.

People inderestimate how difficult the transition from one dance style to another is. Ballet to ballroom is difficult. Especially if you've done ballet from an early age through into adulthood (like Debbie) she will have an excellent and natural turnout (and her toes will be beautifully pointed) BUT many of the ballroom styles, especially Latin, require the foot to be un-turned out, and the knee forward. The ingrained turnout from formal ballet training means your turnout starts at the hip through the knee to the feet. It can be difficult and sometimes painful for ballet dancers to force their legs to be un-turned out. We shall see how Debbie gets on. I think that perhaps her skills as a magicians assistant will help (because they have to be basically contortionists) as her body will have been retrained to be exceptional flexible.

You a dancer Soup?

Once upon a lifetime sort of!

I did ballet reasonably seriously but in the end I only kept up the ballet to help with my ice skating. I also later learned various ballroom dancing styles but again that was all as part of my training as an ice skater.

I am not old, but I am retired from all that now, the body can't stand that kind of stuff for all that long.

Oooh....I think you can be Head Judge on our threads Soup I only know stuff from watching every single series so I have an idea of what is good and what is not and am usually fairly accurate with the marks etc but have no dance training whatsoever! Doesn't stop me shaking my booty in various places though but I doubt I'd be getting many 10s for that!

Finally caught up with the thread! I predicted most of the couples, DS1 was impressed!
Brian - creepy
Janette and aston - well suited and pleased for her.
Mollie - agree the self-deprecation was annoying, I think she'll be good.
Gemma - so likeable but her strong physical frame may work against her, she didn't seem very flexible.
Joe - good salsa hips! May be dark horse.
Susan and Kevin - her reaction was so adorable but am conflicted as I don't like him. I doubt he will get to his fifth final in a row though.
Alexandra - I actually think she was putting on a brave face, when they all came out at the beginning she looked sad behind the smile :( poor woman, she was so close to her mum.
All in all v v excited and will be watching instagram stories like a hawk for the next fortnight to see how the training is going!

What is the issue with Kevin? He seems OK to me. Is he not a good dancer?

Kevin has made it to every semi final. Ever celeb he had danced with has been really positive about him. He gets on with everyone on the show and has a real fan following.
But for somebody reason it's cool on MN to not like him.

Kevin gets stick for:

Having made the finals four years in a row and deemed to have had it easy as all four had potential/two were ringers

Being very hyper/manic a lot of the time

Being a bit me! me! me! with his kicks in the intros and his choreo

Being vain because he's had the gall to want to have hair implants

For being part of the Clifton clan (Karen, him, Jo) with a production conspiracy for him to win at some point (favoured, knew Len, Burn the floor, golden boy, gets his choices of song more than the others)

All of which is unfair down to downright cray cray, but for whatever reason he appears to get on people's nerves/be more marmite than Aljaz, Gorka, Pash...

Which is why I want him and Susan to win it this year

^ burn the floor indeed.

But I can find at least one routine for every pro that I liked (even Jared bless).
Kevin's, for me, include:
The paso with Susanna
The tango with Frankie
The American Smooth with Kellie
The Charleston with Louise

I think he is just a bit marmite.

Lots of people really like him for the exact same reasons that others find him fake/ott/annoying.

I quite like him, he's not my fave pro by any shot but I'd love him to really bring out Susan's best. I don't think she'll be awful but I equally don't think she'll be excellent and i love her so I'd love it if she could stay in for a decent length of time.

Well I like Kevin and I am entirely cool!!! . I think he gets stick for his enthusiasm and alleged showboating but if I were that talented I would let that shine and I would come across as hyper and enthusiastic because I was doing a job I adored! He isn't fanciable in the least but then would make a better partner because no chemistry to get in the way. Cheering for team Susan & Kevin this end!

He reminds me of a male Chorus Line Cassie: he would stand out with an extra flourish even if unintentioned. And the line Dr Cox in Scrubs would use:
"He was never boring."
But my word, the vitriol he gets on DS. It reminds me of fanwars between Hough/Ballad vs Val/Maks. Insanity.

I don't have a favourite Pro per se. I have a different one for different dances.
So Viennese with Brenda, salsa with Gorka, waltz with Anton, paso with Kevin, tango with Aljaz, cha cha with Pash, samba with Neil.
No sodding idea what I'd do with AJ. Scare the living bejesus out of him probably.

maybe just leave him weeping Gorge? I would bloody break him and not in a good way...in my best heels (high) I am 6'4"...#awkward!