Just a thought but a definite possibility. For those who watch DWTS you'll notice the pro's sometimes skip a season competing yet still appear for the odd pro dance and suchlike. Could that be the real reason behind the dance troupe as in next year Ian and Darren MAY be back as fully fledged pro's and say Kristina, Flavia and Vincent take a year off competing - a bit like the tour with Ola and James the first year equivalent to the tour's dance duo, Matt and Kristina the next and Natalie and Ian this year. Like a rotation thing.

Maybe even see Tanya or Agneta as competing pro's next year.

It has to be said Darren and Ian have not voiced their reasons for accepting the lesser role and I cant understand why Darren would stay on without Lilia frankly.

It's another speculation, but a plausible one all the same... What do you think?

It would certainly be a way to build back up a bit of interest in certain pro's who maybe have had a bad few years and are, dare I say it, fading into the background by comparison.

Kym Johnson and Dmitry Chaplin both appeared in DWTS last year and yet weren't competing.

It's definitely a possibility, and I'm sure Moira Ross thought of DWTS when she decided there was going to be a dance troupe. It's possibly also a way to ensure that the pros don't get too popular in the BBC's eyes (although it's a little late for that in most cases!)

Whether or not it works is another question entirely, I for one think any more shifting of pros would cause just as much controversy as it has this year.

Personally I think Darren and Ian stayed to keep themselves within the Strictly set-up so they're more automatically thought of when it comes to deciding who's going to do the tour. And if that means Ian & Natalie dancing together on tour again, suits me fine!

Lilia hasn't really given a reason as to why she refused either, although it seems to me from the little she has commented that it was teaching a celeb to dance that she found the most fulfilling aspect of the show, so you'd think that if she had a chance of returning to compete next year due to dance troupe rotation, she'd have stayed on the show and stuck out the dance troupe for one year....


My honest feeling, although obviously I'll need to see them dance a few more times before I make a final judgement, is that the dance troupe idea may not last beyond this year if the reception to it continues to be like it was after the launch show. Plus we're getting more new producers again, so who know what could happen....!