Strictly

[ppeatfruit]

Anyone interested in bitching chatting about the new one , I know a bit of old goss. but someone must know more

Am listening to BBC radio 2 and the next contestant is being announced on the Steve Wright show. Don't normally listen as find him annoying - don't judge!! He keeps saying they are a 'friend of the show' and that they know them very well. Really hoping it's not actually Steve Wright!!!

Natalie Lowe has announced she's pregnant.

Awww yay Natalie & husband!

Lovely news, congrats to Natalie and her husband!

Anneka!!

Is Chris Evans a "friend" of Steve Wright's Show?

Ah that's nice or amoizing Like her a lot.
If the judges mentor/train, it will only be for ONE routine either semis or replacing the -thon, I should think. All other training down to pro with the usual vts. I like Neil but do wonder how his vts will be.
I am a total overinvested nerd so can give you the heights: Ignore the pairings, I was just speculating based on height but I always always get them wrong.

Alex Gorka 1.63 / 1.67
Anneka Anton 1.73 / 1.8
Catherine Graziano 1.72 / 1.82
Emma B Aljaz 1.75 / 1.83
Emma W / Kev 1.65?
Michelle Giovanni 1.63 / 1.78
Saffron AJ 1.6 / 1.67

Neil is 1.83 but others keep saying that's short (I thought 6ft was tall - originally thought he would be with Emma W as I heard model but she's more likely with Kevin as she's not a tall model) Kev's following Emma Longleat on twitter but also gave thumbs up to someone suggesting a Michelle pairing (Michelle has named Gio, Gorka, Aljaz as her favourites so that would be awkward)

Chris Amy -/ 1.7
David Nadiya 1.94 /1.72
Dev Katya - / 1.68
James Oti 1.93 / 1.63
Jamie Dianne 1.7 / 1.6
Karim Nancy
Mike Janette 1.67 / 1.52
Will Karen - / 1.65

Nadiya surely has to be with David or James due to height and Janette with Mike or Jamie again due to height.
Not knowing Nancy's height is annoying as it would be clearer whether she has been specially brought in for a last minute signing.
Not sure about the others - Oti is shorter but has the edge with training a competitive pro hard. Then again have heard similar about Karen and Amy.

Only just found this thread. Yay, Strictly draws near. Does anyone have a list of the contestants announced so far in one place? Not that I'll have heard of any of them.

Here they all are mornington. Including info about who they all are.

Yes, Anneka was the last confirmed contestant for this year.

My DD knows 2 of them but has heard of the vlogger and cheered at the thought of another paralympian taking part (Karim and Dev are the ones she knows).

Let's hope the lineup gels more IRL than it does on paper

Thank goodness - today they announce someone I've heard of was beginning to think I must come from a parallel universe if the line up so far is supposedly 'celebs'.
To be fair I've seen the sports presenter (didn't know his name though).

Me too Kurri . I like Anneka , she's fun and clever. I read an article where she says she pretended to be her agent when she getting too much boring work; (and wanted to be with her kids!) she gave herself a funny name and fended off the callers. saying she was ill and other things.

Thanks grouchy and nice to hear from you mornington

kurri I inhabit that planet too.

I wouldn't be surprised if Gorka requests to be benched this year with having a new baby.

I'd be happy if Graziano gets benched, he wasn't very impressive last year & i would much rather see Neil get a chance.

Neil is good fun, but a chatterbox and gets distracted quite easily. I did a workshop with them and he kept going off on tangents, Katya was the one who kept us on track.

@covetingthepreciousthings noooo I like Graziano! As for Neil, I'm sure he's a lovely man but I'm dreading him replacing one of my faves this year!

Don't want to jump on bandwagon of "I don't know anyone/I'm not impressed with the line up this year" but I do think it is one of the weaker years I am ready to be proven wrong though!

Ooh - I hadn't seen Anneka was on it - I like her, and she will look very elegant in the sparkly frocks. I meant James Cracknell was the one I'd heard of - now I've heard of two of them. Yay !

On paper it looks like a bit of a rubbish selection - but who knows ? Some may turn out to be real characters, or have an amazing J-word, or a great partnership. I haven't given up hope yet.

Who would people like to see on Strictly then? People seem to think they're either too famous or not famous enough.

I don't care who is on it. For the record, I can only identify Anneka Rice. In previous years, I rooted for whose dancing I enjoyed watching the most. Nobody over the age of 18 heard of Joe Sugg last year, but he became very popular and has won pretty much every glitter ball on the tour.

I suppose part of my reason for being slightly sceptical of not very famous people is that I suspect it means they are ringers. And I prefer to watch people learn to dance and become good.
I will be the first to admit that I don't follow football or soaps, so people from East Enders or football may well be very famous but I haven't heard of them. But they are fine - they'll be favourites fro some people.
I suppose I'd like a news presenter, a couple of actors who are in other dramas apart from soaps, a singer/musician/ band member, light entertainment folk (comedians (I don't know the comedian on this year - he may be a great bloke) game show hosts). Maybe people like Jennifer Saunders, Miranda Hart, Dawn French, Romesh Ranganethan, Richard Herring.

I don't want reality stars or you tubers.

I guess its the non solveable problem that people who are really household names, are too busy to do it.

kurri in previous years when Strictly was at its peak the household names were not too busy then

Actually, are there any singers or former band members this year? We had Faye and Lee Ryan last year but I don't think there is anyone this year, unless I've just not heard of them before.

I don't really mind not knowing them, I'll get to know them, plus I always support AJ anyway

Oh, and Ashley.

Michelle used to be in a band.

Andrew Ridgeley, Martin Kemp, Adam Ant or Duncan FromBlue would do the job for me.

I'm fine with the line up now though - for me it's the same as Eurovision, you get out what you put in so I google the hell out of 'em.
But I'm also used to knowing nobody from watching DWTS and Let's Dance Germany.
I didn't know Lindsey Stirling as an example and she was flat out amazing.
I'm just grateful I have something to distract me from Brexit tbh.