This is so funny - never seen this kind of thing happen before!

2 additional dances I can tolerate

Country dancing - don't know what to think! I've never watched DWTS and so can't comment. Maybe we should have our own UK versions (Morris and Maypole dancing )

Country dancing just makes me think of scottish country dancing, like at ceilidhs...now that'd be interesting to see

Whats wrong with different styles of dancing they introduced two new ones last seasons and they were brilliant

No-one's saying there's anything wrong with different styles of dancing! Just that there are some styles which would not work on Strictly!

Lindyhop, Rock n Roll and the Charleston are all fairly close to the standard 10 dances, and salsa and AT have always fitted in fine as well. The trouble would be going beyond that into street dancing, hip hop and other styles which belong on SYTYCD, not Strictly.

Thing is, SCD died in the ratings last year, and whether we like it or not, the show needed a reboot

I'm going to reserve judgement until we see what's happening on screen

LOL! It was nothing like our country dancing - Scottish or English!

Check this and this out!

(The second one is better!)


Agree 100%

PMSL!


I'm way behind on this but OMG i'm gobsmacked! I thought Anton would be the first to go.
The three new blokes look nice but i feel dreadfully sorry for Ian in particular as he hasn't won yet, at least the others have (not Brian but he is fairly new) Actually i'm shocked at Brian getting the chop, i wonder what the logic there was. What was the logic with the others though, i can only assume as they were the oldest One of the new blokes is 30 though??
Oh and poor Lilia, the only female to be given the boot

Regarding the new genres of dance mmmm not sure as not alot to go on but i hope they keep the usual dances as it just wouldn't feel the same without those.

As somebody else said i hope they rotate the pro's like DWTS do as it would be a real shame to lose Matt, Ian, Darren and Lilia for good.

Do you not? Not even a teensy bit?

I'm with you on that sentiment though. I don't want Strictly to morph into a cross between Pineapple dance studios and SYTYCD. As I think I said before, the genius of Strictly was to re-invent the old pastiche of Come Dancing and cross it with a reality type celeb challenge. It's all gone a bit pearshaped since the association with CIN stopped. Celebs and the BBC used the excuse of it being for 'charidee' for not taking it all too seriously, but now it's just hard nosed business for all concerned. I understand eveyone has to turn a buck, but shame.

8 million viewers is harder dying in the ratings. The show rating were steady throughout the series and were similar to previous years. The only things that went against Strictly last year were the X Factor - who has a surprising high ratings year - & the press.

To put it into perpesctive Dr who - one of the biggest shows on TV at the minute - had an audience of 7.49 million viewers two weeks ago.

As Marie of Romania said (!!! - in the Tesco queue last week ): how on earth is Brucie going to pronounce Artem Chigvinstev?

So I anagrammed him to see if there were any easier versions in case Brucie slipped up and all I can say is our newbie souunds faintly - er, sinister - "Vicar Vesting Them" and "Hamster Vicing Vet" - don't know which of these conjures up a worse image ...

And as for Mr Forsyth himself? Please welcome your host, Mr "Sure Botch" Frye:

Have just caught up with the this news.

I am really upset at what is being done to SCD.

Matt and Brian are my two favourite male dancers and Ian adds so much. Darren and Lilia have such a good record on SCD winning more than anybody else.
I really cannot believe what they have done espectially Brian who is young gives so much to the show and has only done two seasons. I wish Brian every success for the future.

I do believe that the BBC probably did not want to sack anyone because of the backlash it would cause but is crazy.
Lilia is such a good teacher and not the oldest female Pro - crazy.

I am glad the new girls are back as Natalie is my favourite but sad she will not be dancing with Ian they were so well matched.

I think Anton and Eren and Brendon should have gone as they have done seven series and we needed a change. They could have bought one new male dancer in for Katya but I guess that would have been to simple!!

The Charleston worked and the Lindy Hop wasn't great. Both are linked to ballroom dances.

I liked Matt and Aliona's Hip Hop Samba.

The roots of Strictly are in Ballroom and Latin. I think they can produce many variations in music and even blend them with other dances, like ballet which Ian did with Darcey.

But, if it becomes a free-for-all, with other dance styles like country, street and others like we see on SYTYCD, it loses its character. We have seen a gymnastic style of dance by World Champions and it was a flop. If they do go that route, I dont think it will take long to die.

Lindyhop, Rock & Roll and the Charleston are NOTHING like the standard 10 Ballroom/Latin dances! Salsa and AT are impressive, if danced correctly, with appropriate choreography.

As the BBC has decided to keep all older professionals and add new young dancers with questionable qualifications, we may as well turn it into a free for all! Add Hip-hop, Street, Morris dancing and any other style to ruin the programme.

SCD will be a total joke!

I've also just caught up with this and my intial thoughts are... what an odd choice. I really wouldn't have expected Brian to go after creating a massive fan base series 1, reaching 3rd place series 2 and then doing his Dancing with Wheels series on a different BBC channel. I'm also surprised that they'd get rid of both Matthew and Ian. Personally I'm wouldn't be happy with either of them going, but assuming the BBC is trying to "cast" the pros as much as anything else, I'm pretty shocked that they'd get rid of both tall, blonde nice guys who always seem to make friends with their partners. Plus of course the height thing. I assume at least one of the new pros is tall then? If Brendan is the tallest male pro then tall female celebs are going to have problems. Darren and Lilia I'm least surprised by (though most disappointed by) just because they've both had duds for a few years now, neither of them have seemed as enthusiastic the past two series as they were before, and I'd guess they come as a pair. If they were going to get rid of a beloved "older" partnership and weren't willing to lose Anton and Erin for whatever reason, then I can see how Darren and Lilia ended up in the firing line.

In terms of male personalities though we're now left with bad boy (periodically tamed), bad boy mark two, womaniser and nice but sarcastic older gentleman. All the "nice guys" have been demoted. I hope this isn't a sign of melodramatics to come.

I have to say, that Mail article is hilarious though. Do you think anyone even read it before publishing it? There's no logical consistency in it whatsoever. Ah yes, clearly it's ageism. After all 27 year old Brian is 6 years older than the youngest of the new pros (also 1 or 3 years younger than the other two but lets just skip over that... Oh, and the fact that he was actually the youngest of the male pros. And the fact that Anton is clearly the oldest and is still there.)! I also love this: "Strictly bosses have repeatedly been accused of ageism since the show began." This statement is backed up by the evidence of... last series. Series 7. Maybe this is just me, but I'm pretty sure the first series was known as "Series 1" and was filmed a little earlier than last year. I know it's the Mail, but is a little logic too much to ask for?

My point was that they're more like the standard ballroom and Latin than hip hop or street dance

And the Charleston and Lindy Hop did fit into the show, although I would be happy if they got rid of rock n roll. The new dance week was the most exciting of last series, but that doesn't mean they should add even more random styles in....

I agree and the Jive which is one of the 10 dances has links back to the Lindy Hop, as it all comes from the Swing and Boogie styles brought over from the USA in the 1940s.

The Jive may have 'links' with Lindy Hop, Swing and Boogie, but they are not accepted for 10 dance Ballroom/Latin competitions!

If we are going to bring in all these new dances we might as well get rid of Len (who is the only officially licensed adjudicator on the panel), Bruno and Craig, then bring in a load of Coronation Street (or any other soap) 'actors' and has-been singers on the panel. Perhaps that will please all the 'armchair dancers'.

No one is saying they are.

Everybody knows Len is the only judge really qualified to judge Ballroom or Latin.

Armchair dancers make up the vast majority of the viewers and after 7 series, many are not all ignorant about these things.

The three new dances introduced last time were all very well known. The Charleston danced in the final was voted the best dance of the series on the official BBC SCD website, so it was clearly very popular.

There is no information yet about any new dances, but it is clear that there will be something new. If you are hoping for a 10 dance only show, I think you and a small minority of viewers will be very disappointed.

I'm happy to wait and see.

Anyone hoping for an only 10-dance show would probably have stopped watching after series 3 - AT and salsa are not 10 dance either yet there hasn't been a fuss about them and they're as popular (at least the AT is) as the Charleston was last year.

I think the Charleston is here to stay, and possibly the Lindy Hop as well, but that's fine by me - they're entertaining dances that at least have some resemblance to Latin dances (however minor) which the likes of hip hop and street dance do not.

I'll have you know I've consistently made a fuss about both! Honestly, the AT is my least favourite part of the entire series.

I'm mainly just a bit concerned that at some point we'll take on too many non-standard dances and end up dropping the waltz for not being exciting enough. Having said that though, I'm willing to see what the dances actually are before having too much of a paddy.

I'd quite happily drop AT and Salsa. I thought it was nicer in series three when those two dances were group routines only, unmarked and just for fun. The group rehearsals for those two routines were hilarious!

Agreed on that one - if they ever do that, Strictly should be put in the dustbin immediately! Most of my favourite routines are actually waltzes of some sort - Matt and Flavia's, Alesha and Matt's Waltz and VW, Ricky and Natalie's SF one, Chris and Ola's.... (it's my favourite to dance as well, probably explains a lot!). What I meant about no fuss is that 4 years on they're still there and the AT always gets such a good reception...

I do love the AT though, but only if it's in the semi-final as it has been - it would be ruined if it was put in randomly like on DWTS! And if we didn't have it we might not get a Vincent and Flavia demonstration in the QF

I enjoyed the Charleston and would like to see it kept, not fussed about the salsa seeing as there's arguably only ever been 2 good ones - Mark and Karen and Matt and Flavia!

I agree about the AT and the Salsa. I love watching the AT done well, but I'd rather the celebs did something else. As for the Salsa, so many people say there have been very few real Salsas done on the show, so that could be a pro dance too.

One thing about the new dances last time - I thought it was unfair that each couple didn't dance each new dance. Every dance should be danced by the remaining pairs - level playing field and all that.

I really don't want any of the 10 dances replaced, although I could live with the Rumba being replaced if I had to choose a dance to lose.

I'd like the Charleston to stay and I really like the AS, so I hope that stays. Add a Jitterbug Swing style dance like the Lindy Hop and maybe another Latin style like the Merengue or Mambo - I'd be a happy bunny then!

Do we know how many weeks this series will be yet? I know fourteen couples suggests twelve weeks if there's a three couple finale, but we don't really know what they'll do... nor indeed at what point we'll see two dances a week. I'm just wondering how much *room* we'll have for extra dances anyway.


Unfair and a bit odd, really. Certainly Ricky and Natalie (C!) were at a disadvantage compared with Laila, Ali and Chris on that score, and indeed Chris's seems to have been one of the reasons behind his win.

One request I have for this series - less of the same name, please! We don't need two Natalies, two Rickys (and a Richard), two Craigs, a Jo and a Joe in the same series!