I really enjoyed the new celebs - keep it that format in future please Beeb!
Loved John Barrowman - would prefer him to Vern so we don't have to tolerate a celebrity cuupple of presenters. Thought his dance was great fun too!
Bit disappointed in Fern and Vince Cable (who's supposed to have been dancing for years).
Could we please get rid of the props and concentrate on the dancing?
The announcement of the winners and their trophy giving was extremely ropey and shambolic - could we not have it announced the way it was in the past?
Overall though, good show.

Very disapointed with the show seemed it was an after thought and not a lot of effort put into it

Gavin looked miserable glad he never made final.

I actually though the political bloke was good wasnt expecting that at all

Others quite boring but they have afterall had little rehersal so well done

Now john barrowman if ever there was a bloke you could liken to marmite its him. If ever there was a bloke who loves the sound of his own voice its him. Yep he is talented but leave the OTT antics to the theatre which is where he belongs and finally he is so far up his own rectum he can smell his own shit

A definite no to him taking over from bruce and i think the beeb will have realised that, i believe that was a test to see the public reaction to him yuk from me

I loathe JB. Not only does he love himself so much it must hurt, he can be very base at times too. I couldn't stand hours of him hosting.

I think he has embarrassed the BBC enough already ; I am very surprised he was invited to do the show .

"Base " is a very good word

The worst xmas special. Usually it's past Strictly Champions and this year's winner/finalists making up the numbers. The BEEB are clearly under so much pressure financially they couldn't afford the appearance money for this year's finalists and past winner celebs to return they had to scrape out the barrel the likes of Ronni Ancona, a professional dancer in Barrowman, Dot Cotton Fern Britton and a cabinet minister who shouldn't be in his job anyway. It was obviously filmed weeks ago rather than after the final.

Fab post Jan, totally agree with everything you said. Pamelas outfit was also a highlight for me

i kind of felt sorry about how they just annouced the winners and didn't do the little elimination thingy. then the people who didn't win just walked away.

but one thing is surely ronni ancona (sp) could have done a series ? ive never seen her in anything so she cant be that busy...

It was all badly produced and stage managed and Brucie's age doesn't help at all. The other contestants walking off without either Bruce or Tess prompting was a shoddy way to treat celebs who even with appearance money were still doing the show a favour by appearing. Ronni Ancona looked completely uncomfortable after she'd danced I'm not surprised she wouldn't want to do a series of it.

Well I liked the new format too & hope they keep it that way. I did not watch last years cos I'm bored seeing all the old finalists & have had enough of the new ones after 10+ weeks!
I actually thought John B was great & have changed my mind, I think he would be a good replacement (for when the time comes - lbh Brucie isn't gonna go on forever, no matter how hard he dodders ). Unfortunately it sounds like if it's sonner rather than later John won't have the time .
The only fly in the ointment was Ronni, what was up with her? Talk about a sour-faced puss - someone had obviously peeved her off but it made it awkward & uncomfortable to watch; not the sort of thing you want on Xmas Day evening imo - shame on her .

Er, this year's finalists (and semi-finalists) were there?! Can't imagine the likes of Tom Chambers and Mark Ramprakash would cost as much as Fern, Vince, JB, etc..

Tom is starring in White Christmas in Sunderland - and he is excellent in it- why wasn't Chris asked back- it was quite rude ofc the PTB not to ask him back for the final.
And why did Alesha score Vince and June the same - that puzzled me

I enjoyed the show, thought JB was great! Loved Ronni's dress, and thought Fern looked fantastic.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with previous winners - just disputing that hiring Fern, JB et al was cheaper and down to BBC cost-cutting.

I dont think it was anything to do with cost, I think they just wanted to freshen things up and I for one from being initially not happy, enjoyed it. I dont mind seeing celebs from previous series obviously, but I think its silly when it also included the last so many from the current series when we have watched them for so many weeks, and at the point that its filmed no one knows who won...a bit silly really.

Don't think viewers could take a whole series of her bad attitude and sour face. Why do these so called comediennes take themselves so damned seriously. Thought the judges were actually fairly soft on her considering her dancing was atrocious.

I loved the show.
So much nicer to have new celebs who cant commit to the long run of the normal show.
I thought JB and VC were excellent - and I loved Vincent and Dot.

Treat of the evening for me though was Only Men Aloud!
They were great!
Wish the audience hadnt clapped all over them singing - but par for the course when dancers on too.

Shame they couldnt have done one of their all singing all dancing Christmas numbers - I saw them in concert in November and they were fabulous....but lovely to hear them singing so beautifully anyway.

Great show - hope they keep the format the same next year.

I wondered if it was because he was a LibDem. Perhaps she supports a different party!

It totally agree. It was a big disappointment. The Christmas Special is usually a spectacular. This was a damp squib.

I only got to watch it today and was glad I could fast forward John Barrowmans VT . He is simply too OTT and loud for me .
I enjoyed the show , but would absolutely love a Christmas all stars special sometime .
I prefare to see the previous contestents than new ones , I cant relate to them or really care who wins .
Only Men Aloud were fabulous but the best bit was almost drowned out by the audience yelling and clapping .
I liked the group dance but it was a bit under rehersed I thought .,

as someone said it was filmed weeks ago before AW was eliminated so they were all they already

I really enjoyed the new format, I though Barrowman was great I'd be happy for him to take over from Bruce.

Was a bit disappointed with Vince Cable even though he come second, as he has been having ballroom and latin lessons for years, if anyone had an unfair advantage it was him. His posture was poor, but he had good footwork. To be fair I think nerves got to him.

I think nerves did for Ronnie as well, although I thought it was harsh that she got the same score as June

Loved June's tango (read: startled mule) face! She and Vinthent were hilarious

Fern didn't really stand a chance of keeping up with a Cutler jive, but she gave it a good go.

Overall it was good to see some new faces and routines, instead of the top 4 from the series plus a couple of others re-hash old routines to Christmas songs. I'm glad a couple of them had dance experience so we didn't just get dire first week level performances.

I thought most of them were pretty much dire first-week performances, especially for those mooted to have dance experience! Vince's posture was dreadful and you could have driven a bus between John and Kristina! I can only assume it looked better in the studio, because I didn't rate any of the dances at all tbh, it was awful. The best part was June Brown for sheer comedy value (actually funny, unlike AW) and I also liked the group dance with this year's cast. The rest was rubbish, I'd much prefer to see the higher standard of current and past champions and runners-up. If celebs can't commit to the full run, there's the likes of the Children in Need special they could do. Christmas Special would be much more enjoyable with good dancing in my opinion.

And it was sorely lacking in a dance from the full complement of pros. Robin and Kristina were fabulous, but the opening 'pro dance' was dreadful. The pros could easily have filled that section with a proper routine.

How many people are actually looking for top level dancing from a Christmas Special, especially when they know the celebs have only had a few hours to train/rehearse?

2 years ago, Lisa and Brendan mucked up the Quickstep big time (and they were third in their series!) but it didn't matter because it was considered a 'Christmas Bash' as opposed to a serious competition.

The Top 5 from the series seemed to have that attitude too with all the stealing of each other's hats and Scott & James were certainly treating it as a carry on

I wasn't looking for top level dancing, but I expected more from Vince and John considering there was a fair amount of complaint that they both had considerable dance experience...

I would have treated it like a fun competition if it had had the fun of seeing fabulous dancers from the current and past series competing against each other. The fun comes from the dancing being good first and foremost for me, and I could excuse mistakes if we'd seen the couples dance well before, as I often do for the main series, but that wasn't the case, so I have no qualms in being critical even if it was a Christmas show! It was the equivalent of week 1 imo, and that isn't particularly entertaining in comparison to what dancers can do after the end of a long run in the show....

Gavin was god awful in the group dance!

He must have been fairly embarassed having to do it next to four great dancers. Bet he wished Ann was there so he wasn't the worst one