Last season & or previous series i seem to remember that the dreaded flu or bug went round most of the contestents and Tess as well

If they get hit with Swine flu will the series have a few weeks break or will the be a lot of drop outs maybe and replacements this year

Just a thought

Wow! What a thought.

Think how much the slebs play up a common cold -imagine the sympathy factor if one of them had some mild swine flu. There's probably some PR manager reading this right now and considering it a good angle!

Seriously though, it may well do - a second 'wind' of it is due to hit in September -apparently...

Not dismissing the virus itself which is a very nasty thing to get of course, but it would be slightly comical if among all the other fiascos currently happening the series gets shut down by THAT.

The could dance in face masks to be on the safe side. You never know what infections are lurking in the audience. Also we wouldn't have to look at those cheesy smiles in the ballroom, or the 'paso' faces.

I really bloody wish the pandemic had started last year before Tom's paso.

Last years' bug was actually caused by something they had eaten.

But who knows? Although "those-who-should-know" insist the seasonal flu jab doesn't necessarily help against swine flu, I have a feeling that it must - otherwise how do they explain that piggy-flu hasn't affected the older generation so much?

IF that is the case I would think they would all be ok. Dancers and actors and the like, spend so much time with other people, and good health is such an essential part of their career, that most of them pay to have flu jabs as a precaution.

No, they will carrying on dancing like swine,
which some do any way.

As swine flu is likely to affect more younger people than older ones (as the older ones will have some degree of resistance from other flu strains), it lends more weight to having older people on there (judges, celebs, and pros).

even though the pros aren't really that much older i mean most of them are in their 30s

You mean we might get more dancing pigs

Is it not enough that SCD is ageist and sexist, now it is animalist?

Sir Winston got it right, saying,

"Dogs look up to man,
cats look down on him,
pigs treat us as equal."

Probably just on the end of the greatest risk age group. But I think that the younger that you are, the more at risk you are, so any pros in their early/mid twenties are at higher risk than those in their thirties I would have thought.

Ola's 26/27 and the new ones are that age too. The rest are all in their thirties I think.

I suppose the eliminated pros could do a few weeks if neccessary, or a pro could sit on the judging panel if a judge became ill. Don't know about the celebs though.

I suppose they'll have a contingency plan. At least, they're supposed to, but that's no guarantee.

Scene: Strictly Come Dancing Series 7, Show 5.

Bruce: And now we will have for the first time in Strictly a wonderful new group dance called the Pandemic. Len, can you tell us about it?
Len: Well I'm gobsmacked with this dance. It started in Mexico abaht 10 months ago and swept the country. It then rapidly gained ground as the latest craze to sweep all countries. The basic starter step is called the trotter, as you will see, the couples move around the floor trotting to start. When it reached Arabia they introduced the face mask as an addition to the costume for both the man and the woman. Obviously Miss Piggy from the Muppets is engaged to sponsor and promote this huge money earner soon to be made into a musical with songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The best song will be in the next Eurovision, it is called 'Happy Trotters.' As you know, chosen by a selected panel of the general public after being deliberately intoxicated. But the chosen song now to be played for this group dance by the Dave Arch Five is really great,
composed by Bob Dylan and called 'Hey Mr Tamifluman'.

Hey Mr Tamifluman
Supply a pill for me
I am lonely
Because no one wants to talk to me.

'

Surely this is no more of an issue that the usual flu, coughs colds etc that they may be at risk of every year?

I wonder if they make diamante face masks?

[Edited to add - brilliant post nancy]

Surely Matthew Cutler must be close in age to Karen Hardy?

Love it! Or how about a Foxtrot to 'Flu Moon'.

Contingency plans never seem to figure at all highly as far as the SCD production team is concerned (witness the voting shamble last year, the unexpected loss of a contestant etc).

Ta very muchly.

Well, if there was an epidemic, it would bring a whole new meaning to the celebs being hot to trot.

Re Flu Moon....drat.

John Travolta foresaw this situation 20 years ago and tried to warn us ahead of time:

Saturday Night Fever !

Love your post nancy!

Ha!

I guess being a scientoligist does have its plus points after all

Whoehahahaahha... spot on soulmate!!

Could the first signs of this be happening with Ali as reported hope not

Possibly - but to be honest she shouldn't be allowed to "soldier on" if she has it, it could take out most of them.

Speaking as someone who's in bed with it at the moment!