So we were originally told that there would be a competing pros dance on Friday and that Aliona, Katya, Kristina, Flavia and Ola were going to dance to Robbie & Gary, but neither happened.

Have to say I am not at all impressed, and I think it's particularly bad etiquette on the part of the production team to have the 5 pro girls rehearsing until 10pm a couple of nights ago (not to mention the time Aliona took choreographing) and then have them rehearsing today (Kristina tweeted so) and cut them from the performance, which was pre-recorded anyway! It's just disrespectful, surely they didn't discover a logistical problem that late! The girls rehearsed on the set days ago!

Not happy at all, if we're getting fewer pro dances this series then I'm seriously disappointed.

um... *uses brain the size of a planet to delve the most profound secrets of human existence* ... there was no voting or anything else to wait for with somebody filling in the gaps, and Take That didn't want any dancers distracting from their sensitive song. How's that?
Normal monkey-business to be resumed shortly.

Not the point. The BBC had said on their website the pros would be dancing on the Friday, and pictures were tweeted of the girls rehearsing for the Robbie and Gary performance, and they were all tweeting about it so it's not as if it was a secret. AND it was pre-recorded, so there's no excuse really. Just incredibly poor organisation from the BBC.

It's not all about the celebs you know...

I was also disappointed not to see any pro dances over the 2 shows, Mystical. I didn't know any of that info you gave about all the rehearsals, but if that is the case, I agree it's pretty bad form.

Have the BBC given an explanation?

I think the BBC have given in to the whinging of Simon Cowel about SCD clashing with X Faxtor and BBC shouldn't have done this as ITV and SC have no devine right to have a free hand!

I think that its also very political as the Tory Government have been looking to clip the wings of the BBC or make them dance towards their tune for decades, pardon the pun.

ITV also has a Conservative Chairman, and with the BBC's charter renewal discussions coming up again, BBC are treading on egg shells hence the stupid 1 hour shows which are too short, but the BBC shouldn't do this and put the shows back at 90 minutes!!!!

I love the pro dances; they're a really special part of the show and I was disappointed that there weren't any. They make a really nice start/end to a programme. I felt bored during Robbie and Gary's duet (though the set looked nice) and kept waiting for the pro girls to come on.

They prerecorded another song with Robbie on his own today to be used in a future episode.

Where did you get that info from? That's new to me. Makes sense though, all the pro girls were talking about Robbie. That makes me slightly less mad at the BBC, but it's still not right that there was no pro dance at all. If i remember correctly, it was on the BBC website last week that the pro dancers would perform on the Friday and then Robbie and Gary on the Saturday.

I don't think I ever saw anything on the BBC site suggesting there'd be a Pro Dance on Friday.

I was waiting for a pro dance as well - Aliona said on BBC Breakfast this morning that she was performing tonight. Obviously a last minute change of plan

That's nice for the show if the Beeb have got Robbie on again, beats the standard of last year's music acts.

The pro dance would have been rubbish without the departed pros in it anyway

Am I right in saying that this is the first time artist's have appeared and NOT been accompanied by the professional dancers even if just one couple?

Having the two shows starting late on Fri and too early on Sat is a total mess and then no elimination. Don't know what's going on with the BBC whether it's all done to placate Cowell and ITV. The BBC are the losers . I will be very surprised if the ratings are not down on previous years.

I was sorely disappointed at the lack of pro dancers in the Robbie/ Gary duet. I had thought that there may not be time for a full pro dance but I assumed we'd at least get one couple dancing during the music act, and then instead we had the camera man doing the hoky-coky. It's not as though Gary and Robbie were doing anything that special beyond singing and standing up at the memorial Westlife key change. And then sitting down again. And then standing up to bow.

I know most people watch for the celebrities but particularly in the first few weeks when no one is all that good, the pro dances tend to be highlights of the show for me.

Actually, Friday's show was up on last year's Friday night launch show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlyc...latest-t.shtml



Yes, I think so.

Obviously the girls' tweets were misinterpreted, but there was no indication that it wasn't for tonight, and Aliona did say she was dancing tonight! Will be nice to see the routine when it's shown, but why couldn't they have done a little bit to tonight's song too?