It seems to me that the celebs used to have to learn group dances (more than one week) and used to have more than one week when they had to learn 2 dances.

Now, there's a swing-t-thon, but no group dances and only one week when they have to learn two dancers to perform only with their partner.

So have they made it easier in those ways (and if so, when was the change), or did it's only seem like there was more in the past.

You may be right, I don't know if that's a bad thing, though. People aren't going out with injuries, hence the double eliminations for the past two years. And that first week of two dances (when it was earlier) used to be pretty cringe-worthy for most celebs.

No I dont think so.Back then when Alesha was competing , we had a 2 person finale.I think it makes more sense now to have 4 dances for the final b/c we have a 3 person finale(having them perform 5 dances each will be too much I think and when will the show ends)?

I think it has been made easier all round. I like the staggered start to the series, but not how late in the series they start doing two dances. I understand the pre series training time has been cut though, so that could also be a factor. Pros would teach a lot of dance basics in that time, as well as the first routine (or two).

I would guess that the motivation behind this is to keep the shows to a manageable length, rather than to make it easier for the celebs. I think I'm right in saying that this change came with the introduction of a lot more celebs, so two dances a week any earlier would just make the shows too long, plus it would mean they'd run out of available dances!

So, for example, in the first series, the winner, Natasha, only had to learn nine ballroom dances (plus the show dance), even though she was doing two dances from week 6. Last year, Kara, on the other hand, had to learn 13 dances, plus the swing-a-thon and show dance, even though she didn't have to do two dances until the semi-final (week 11). Both Mark, winner of series 4, and Alesha, winner of series 5, had to learn 13 dances plus the show dance and started having to do two dances a week from week 9.

Sorry, can't remember much about any group dances that the celebs had to do in past series, but I guess it's a matter of opinion as to whether it's got easier or harder!

Thanks, everyone!

I can see peeve's point about the number of dances, but I think 2 dances in one week is a harder test than more dances spread out over a longer time. A 2-dance week separates the contestants who are good enough that they can learn a dance to a good standard in 2-3 days from the ones that need a whole week.

I miss the group dances! Sadly the celebs extra time has probably been diverted to those god awful vt's they now show instead of training footage.

I dont miss the group dances because they were ususlly poor. At Wembley this year the celebs didn't really do a dance, most of it was walking across a crossing.

Two dances a week doesn't help. In the old days when there was a dance-off you learned your best one well and the other didn't matter much so it often was a poor standard.

Several finals have been let downs due to them having too many dances.

Cutting down the pre first dance training time is a big disadvantage to those who hadn't had any dance training before. I'd like to see them go back to 6 weeks before the first dance.

It's actually harder I would say. The celebs used to get five to six weeks pre-show training where they could go over the basics of more than the first dance. Now because of the launch show they only get three, and Kara and Harry had only two because of their previous involvement in the Sport Relief/Children in Need versions of Strictly.

I don't think it sets them up well for the final that the first week they've learned more than one dance is the semi-final (I'm not counting the swingathon because that involved repeating the same short piece of choreography). By the final, ideally you would want them to be used to performing more than one dance a week.

ETA: they would also appear to have less training time due to the filming of those ridiculous VTs.

Perhaps there's an ambiguity in "harder".

Less pre-show training makes it harder for contestants to reach a high standard early in the series, but does it make SCD a more difficult task / challenge / experience overall?

It seems to me that the celebs can now get all the way to the semi-final without having to learn two dances in a week, and that SCD would be more difficult if they faced more two-dance weeks.

Prob in the minority but I'm not a fan of the celeb group dances. The only group dances I like seeing are the pro ones.

As others have said, the show is harder and not harder depending on what way you look at it.