@Ed_StarOnSunday: CONFIRMED: Strictly dancer Katya Virshilas - who danced with Dan Lobb last year - has been axed from the line-up #scd

Poor Katya. They could have at least given her someone with the potential to win the show before giving her the heave-ho.

Still, glad that most of the rest are back. I wonder who'll be Katya's replacement...

Kat-astrophe....and other pussy puns.

I wish her well. She had a better run than some.

Poo. There were a good few I'd have fired before her, but the PTB never take my preferences into account. (Still mourning Ian...)

I just hope he will still be appearing on a Wednesday night on ITT. Sadly missed on the main programme though.

Shocking.

I wonder what 'will remain very much part of the Strictly family' means?

Katya got more from Phil and Gavin than I think any other pro could have in terms of entertainment off the dance floor.

I loved the battle to get Phil motivated and to work a bit harder, and they both had a good sense of humour for ITT bantering.

Gavin (the immovable object) came up against the irresistable force in Katya and despite his initial reluctance to let go in any way Katya got him moving and out of his shell. IMO Gavin would have made the final 3 if the judges had not arranged the order to place Pamela far enough in front of Gavin to ensure she went through instead. Katya's flirting with Gavin was also a highlight and teased a few good one-liners out of him.

I think Katya brought something different and valuable to the show, so I'm sorry she has gone.
Maybe she has other plans or maybe she will still have some part to play?

I am very sorry to see Katya go she did her very best with som very difficult partners. Tuffers was just being Tuffers......Gavin & Katya were one of my all time favourite couples in the training room.....Dan Lobb was an egotistic idiot with an over inflated impression of himself. Katya would definately not have been my first choice for the chop.

Gutted

Katya was my favourite female pro of the recent series. I wanted her to get a partner she could have done REALLY well with (a bit like Aliona has done..twice) but I loved Katya with Gavin.

A shame but I'm glad I am not as invested as SCD as I once was, it keeps changing and not always for the best.

I hope she gets other opportunities as she deserves them.

Should have been Erin ousted- she's peaked.

Katya had so much more to give.

She was one of my favourite pros - and stuck to the rules too.

If a female had to go, I was hoping it would be Aliona (because she doesn't stick to the rules) or Erin, (but I don't want lose Erin because then Anton would go).

I like erin,the pro I would not miss would be Aliona

Agree Buddy and Footygirl. x

I would dearly love to see Erin back because she has such quality in ballroom dancing - and many of the others just don't have that.

Wild Latin may appeal in general as entertainment, but not for me - I like true dancing, and for me she is so true to the ballroom (not so much the Latin) that I'd love to see her back to show what the standard should be in ballroom, and letting us all enjoy the sheer quiet beauty of that as well as Latin.

You've put it better than I could Jan.

From the tone of the BBC newsbeat report- it sounds like it was between her and James Jordan as to who was going to leave... I suppose the on screen rants between James/Ola and Craig, were viewed as too key to viewers watching than Katya getting a good partner... so I wonder how many of those will be semi scripted- or Craig pushed to be incredible harsh on James' partner...

I'm glad that my favourites are staying, but I'm a bit gutted about Katya although I did think she's be one of the one's at risk. I really enjoyed her partnership with Pasha last year.

Hello, Buddy

*waves*

I would LOVE to have seen the back of Aliona for all the reasons you say - I still haven't recovered from some of the dreadful routines she did for Matt Baker - but I fear she will remain in the show for the foreseeable.

Unfortunately ...

Aliona's choroegraphy isn't suited to Strictly. She is more contemporary- which would suit her to DWTS more. The reason Camilla, Lilia and Karen got away with being innovative was because they stuck to the traditions of ballroom - and in doing so kept Len happy as well as pleasing Craig and Bruno

If James had been dropped I suspect Ola would have walked too

Maybe the could only find one suitable female replacement instead of a pair, so dropped the one girl, and didn't risk dropping one of James/Ola in case they couldn't find a second replacement...

That sounds possible.

I am wondering now who the new lady pro will be. They really do need someone about 5"8 who could go with a 6ft+ male celeb.

As far as the pro pairing are concenred the new pro could partner Artem and Aliona could move and partner Pasha

That would work for me. They need someone around Natalie's height so that if they do have two tall male celebs (Audley and Dan) again then the girl doesn't have to have lifts put in her shoes like Katya had to do with Dan.

A lot of male celebs tend to be in the 5ft 11 - 6ft 2 range, so the 5ft 11 - 6ft ones can go with Aliona/Erin and the 6ft 1 - 6ft 2 ones could go with Natalie and the new female.

I'm thinking though, they'll get someone who's 5ft 6-7.

I'm not too surprised that Katya is the one who's gone. If it was a close call, then it may well could have been the Jordans, or Anton/Erin - but they have been with the show so long that they are cemented with the viewers, and James is the new Brendan lol.

That just means that Robin has to have a good run this series otherwise he'll probably be the next one out.

It might help if they gave him a chance with a celeb with potential instead of putting them with Artem. He had Kara and Holly(Holly could dance but dodn't seem too bothered) - so maybe the time has come to see just how clever Artem is in choroegraphing routines for weak celebrities - just as Brendan has had to do

I thought I heard mention last summer that Pasha refused to dance with Aliona due to previous history in the US and that's why Katya had to move from partnering Artem in the pro line up.