They seem to be on a wind-up. They seem to think that the less well known than Chloe, child of Richard and Judy is an improvement on people who have their own showbiz/sporting careers.

Each and every one of them has a more legitimate claim to fame than Chloe (much as I liked her), and Elen Rivas and all of this year's kids tv presenters have done higher profile presenting on terrestrial tv than Laura Hamilton (as much as I liked her). All of the soap actors have/had bigger parts in their respective soaps than Sam Attwar did to qualify, and Heidi Range is a much more successful singer/pop star than Vanilla Ice or *coughs* Kerry Katona.

In pure tabloid or trashy "celebrity" magazine terms, this year's lot might suffer compared to Katona or Rivas, but that's no bad thing IMO.

she's enough to put me off watching anyway.

Oh dear even after looking at the pictures I still have no idea who most of these people are
I recognise Jennifer Ellison, she was in Chicago in the West End. I recognise Heidi from the Sugababes and Rosemary Conley too, but the rest are completely unknown to me. Oh no, actually I've heard of Chesney Hawkes (though I didn't have a clue what he looked like) but I desperately try to avoid hearing his most famous song...I hope they don't use it on the show for one of his routines

I'm not into sport and don't watch soaps very much - the ones I've heard of are in bold

I only know Andy because JLS were once on Blue Peter and I taped it

So as I know Andy, and he's with Maria (I want her to stay longer this year) I'll be supporting them

EDIT: I know the name Chesney Hawkes but wouldn't recognise him in a picture

How come all the female 'celebs' are blondes. Or does the blonde bimbo look (excl Laila and Rosemary) sell?

Surely its discriminatory against brunettes, redheards and women with dark hair.

Also how come Dan Whiston always gets the common northern girl and Frankie the male version (just jokin!).

I'm not too fussed on how famous the celebrities are, but I do think DOI have pulled a really strong line-up out of the bag this year in terms of recognisable people. Obviously if you don't watch the soaps that limits who you will know - but millions of people will certainly know who they are and some of them will almost certainly be voting! The likes of Heidi and Jennifer are pretty famous as well.

Of course, whether any of these people can skate remains to be seen but I'm excited about finding out!

Is the show to be re-named Dancing-on-Soap?

But if you exclude the soap stars past and present, theres still 10 people! And unlike some past series, all of them have a legitimate claim to fame.

Fair enough if you don't like it, but quite clearly most people are very happy with what we've got so maybe you should just give the show a miss and leave us fans to talk about it.

Out of the male celebs I have only ever heard of Chesney Hawkes and the dim one from Corrie, but it's the same with SCD there are always people you have never heard of, and for me that was Harry Judd and Chelsee Healey but you get to know more about them as the series progresses!

Those shiny dance tights the girls wear in the promo shots really show up the less than desirable legs don't they?.........Heidi Range to mention but one.
I'll get me handbag..........

I've just noticed this:


I've never heard of Katarina Witt

Probably one of the most successful figure skaters of all time. Two time Olympic gold medallist, four time World Champion, Six time European Champion. Brought a lot of fun to Ladies skating and was very successful as a pro skater once her competitive days were over. From a skating point of view it is a huge deal to have her judging.

There are loads of her performances on You Tube, she was a great competitor, strong nerves and the ability to skate well under pressure

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-revealed.html

more details and pictures

Poor line up of celebs, poor line up of pro dancers, not that they get much appreciation, and then we have the Bleakley, she was bad on the Westlife programme.

Schofield shouting his way through a couple of hours of tv on a Sunday night is too much.

If this is the best that ITV can attract then perhaps it is time they gave up on the show. Put it another way, would SCD invite any of this lot onto their show ..... I very much doubt it.

Putting Laila Morse on skates?? She looks ridiculous and feel sorry for her partner, who will no doubt have to lift her.

Louis Spence is another turn off, Katarina Witt although a great skater, her contribution last time she was on was very monosyllabic. Jason probably got the boot because he dared to confront Karen Barber who is the current squeeze of Chris Dean.

Typical of ITV, there is more going on off the ice, and with the judges, than there is actually on the ice. We await the first fauxmance, I hear Heidi Range has conveniently called off her engagement in time for the start of the show.

Cynical? Mmmmm

I dont' think Katarina has ever been on the show before? The only skaters who have been on the panel that I can remember are Karen Kresge and Natalia Bestemianova, who was fairly monosyllabic.

She was totally fantastic. And such charisma

I agree. The excitement of this completely forgettable bunch of past nomads and wanna-be's PLUS Christline Beakey would be absolutely too much for me!

Stuff the line up, has anybody at ITV invested in microphone so that Philip Schofield doenst have ot keep shouting?

The mouth watering prospect of seeing that bunch of no marks trying to stay vertical while the cuprinol twins ponce about trying to pass this dross off as some kind of major event is too much for me to stomach.

THAT has just about summed it up in one succinct sentence.


Thank you.

Chesney is OUT

Schofe has just tweeted

"Just heard that poor Chesney Hawkes is too injured to continue on DOI, he's so upset. That's two celebs we've broken and we're not on air!!"

who is the second?

Chegwin?

Anyone know who Chico is skating with??

Indeed, and as the likes Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, David Beckham and Prince Harry are never going to turn up, the most important criteria is to cast some people who will entertain before going early, some decent skaters and preferably enough good people to produce a competition.

This year they seem to have got a very interesting competition potentially - at least on on the female side. Chemmy should be powerful. Jennifer is a bit tall, but she's possibly the most qualified dancer they have had and she's with Dan who knows how to win . Heidi, has musicality and she's the same height and about the same age as Clare was, and, if she's really now with Andrei, he knows how to work with that and has the power. Jorgi is the same height as Suzanne, and if she can do everything else well enough, will really allow Matt to do what he couldn't do with anyone since Suzanne in the way of lifts and spins. They seem to have paired two of their shortest females in Heidi and Jorgi with two of their taller and most powerful lifters, and Dan with their best dancer again - which may all be significant and produce a real competition - if the basic skills work out.

Jodeyne.

Jodeyne Jodeyne Higgins
Hi everyone, please meet Chico. He is going to partner me for DOI since Chesney was injured. pic.twitter.com/vfw2xQKR