Originally Posted by Tango Trish:
“Guests of dancers and BBC and production staff - I went the year Mark Ramprakash was in it and then they didn't put the public upstairs. You couldn't get anywhere near the dance floor as it is all "invited guests" etc - we were quite miffed coz we were told to "dress up" definitely NO jeans and lo and behold there on the front row be "production guests" wearing jeans - when me and mine (and everyone else in the public queue) had made a real effort to dress up”
I also went the year Mark Ramprakash was in it, and had no problems walking onto the dancefloor (went twice, once the week of the salsa, and again in the final). There were security men but I just walked past them. I was seated on the ground floor, but some of the people in the queue were on the balcony. In fact, that year, it helped not to be front of the queue as the first lot were put on the balcony, and the middle of the queue on the ground floor. Now I think no member of the public gets onto the ground floor (I could be wrong) due to the increase in production guests/celebs.
The only negative about sitting on the ground floor is that sometimes your view is obscured by the huge cameras running along around the dancefloor.