She went to stage school, has appeared on the West End and spent the last 10 years having regular dance lessons

Guess who , no not Denise, for all the flack she is getting but Kimberley

and Lisa and Sid have both been to stage school

and Johnny worked for years as a Butlins entertainer on the stage

and Fern learnt tap to be on a prgramme and has done the xmas special as has Dani.

if people want to be annoyed about Denise having danced before at least hold others to the same standard

Gabby and Matt Baker were slated for having gymnastic training yet Loius isn't

Honestly the majority have had a degree of expereince

A ringer is an impostor misrepresenting their ability to gain an advantage in competition.

I do not think this word means what you think it means.

I don't think anyone is good enough to be called a ringer this year to be honest

it is exactly what I mean

I hear a lot that Denise was a professional dancer and under sells her previous experience

I am just pointing out that others have experience too and I haven't heard Sid, for example, tell us he spent 6 years doing dance at school

Can I also point out Dani did not do the xmas special but did do the comic relief thing ,I wonder if she went to stage school ?

no she didn't but has appeared in a lot of pantomime as was due to star in Disco inferno but it got cancelled

Is it Bruce?
He doesn't look like he's got much experience

Did you seriously just say that Johnny is a ringer for performing at Butlins?

Is it the man in the hat?

Good post and so agree. All this hate to Denise is ridiculous. She's putting up a good show and that's what I care about.

It's definitely a fair point. But ringers don't bother me, I just haven't taken to Denise.

Matt Baker had much more experience than gymnastics, believe me.

I think Dani has some kind of ballet background, which may explain why she was reminding me of Ali Bastian (and no, that's not a compliment).

I have no idea what he did at Butlins but he was an entertainer and as far as we know spent several years teaching ballroom dancing or tap dancing on the stage

I thought that generally a ringer was a person who is a shoe-in for the prize. But it looks like people use the word differently on this forum.

Is Sarah Michelle Gellar appearing in Strictly?

It comes from horse-racing, a fraudulent practice that still goes on. A not-very-good horse is entered for the race then a horse that looks the same (a "dead ringer") but runs much better is substituted, running under the original horse's name and odds.

So it means someone who's deliberately pretending to be crap but is actually very much better, as cwickham says.

Whats a ringer ? Sorry just read the explaination

No, not in football anyway. It meant an imposter, usually someone who played for your team but was not registered. You would sign him in under the name of one of your registered players who was maybe injured...or in the case of our pub team, was probably in bed nursing a hangover.

Ps..The horse racing explanation (above) is almost certainly the origin.

Denise IS a ringer.
She's really Gabby Logan in disguise

I think it depends on how you talk about your experience. Kimberley has said she's had dance training but she's never done ballroom whereas Denise is playing the "who me? Dance? Never!" act and it's annoying.

You know you've danced on stage and you were in a girl band and you went to stage school, we know you've danced on stage and you were in a girl band and went to stage school, just fess up to it, we'll respect you far more.

This year, for some reason, feels like its packed full of people who can already dance. I don't know if there are statistically more who can, but it definitely feels that way.

I'm surprised Johnny made the list of 'ringers'.

He said he did standup comedy for 12 years.

If as suggested he taught ballroom dancing for several years, he's the Laurence Olivier of 'ringering' - judging by his CCC.

Honestly I dont know what Johnny did I am just saying for all we know he may have , do we know for certain that he was not disco champion Butlins Minehead 1979

My point being this year a lot of people do have experience and a lot are not owning up to it

I love Colin Salmon now but when he was first announced I had to look him up on Wikipedia, on there he was listed as dance captain for some Notting hill carnival thing, that entry has gone now

What is a dance captain by the way ?

A captain that dances?

Colin is involved with the Fox Carnival Band which, as far as I can gather, is a youth project helping young people with art. They seem to take part in the carnival by waving their art about.

It says on the website: "The ‘show’ created by Fox Carnival Band is one of movement and colour. We have no Kings or Queens, nor do we rehearse complicated dance moves in advance. Instead, the ‘players’ or masqueraders (both adults and children) who carry the artwork simply follow the movement of the Band Leader. Around 200 artworks move in unison, high above the heads of the participants. This creates a singular show with spectacular visual impact!"

Colin, incidentally, is the Band Leader...

I'm sure Kristina can capitalise on his experience and work that into their samba routine later on in the series...

thanks for that looks like a good project to be involved in

I'll take Colin off my list of ringers then

Works in a senior position with the choregrapher in stage shows.

John Partridge was dance captain in 'Cats'

Nah, leave him on! He must have ringery samba-ry hips to be a Band Leader in the first place, so who knows where he acquired his knowledge?

Seriously, I do understand your frustration with the cries of 'RINGER!' echoing round the forum. Like Alli, I don't mind if the celebs have had previous dancing experience - but I do mind if they try and pass it off as insignificant (Denise), lie about having had secret lessons (Jason) or airbrush having been taught by Bruno out of their CV (Dr Hamela).

And, looking at that list of three, it would appear that my only true, scientific criterion for deciding whether or not they are ringery ringers is ... whether I like them or not.

Ok
your every wish is my command

Colin is now back on because of his ringery hips!

I wonder if he knows he has them