It's just an odd number imho.
Has it got any significance?
It would have been easy to round up or down by adding/subtracting a pro?

So, is this a Red Herring or is there another reason for an unequal number?

Most likely case scenario: they just wanted an extra female celeb, perhaps because they had 8 female celebs and weren't prepared to drop any, or they wanted an extra week of live shows, or they wanted to tip the balance in favour of a female winner...

Dick & Dom were Rumored to of signed months ago, perhaps that may be the case?

No, because there's one more male pro (and hence one more female celebrity) than there should be.

Most likely BBC wanted an extra week of their most watched show. They also have no Doctor Who (apart from Anniversary one off) or Merlin this Autumn so need a boost.

Is Anton the problem?

Erin has left, but can he work with other partners?

Assuming he is still partnering Erin away from Strictly, maybe he doesn't want to devalue their tour by being seen with anyone else ??
And if this works in the BBC's favour I am sure they would run with it.

It seems to have been a change of mind from when they announced the four replacement pros on June 1st.

I know that Kevin and Karen applied for Strictly together but there was only a place for a female pro. Then they chose Aljaz for Vincent over Kevin so either, he wasn't their number one choice, or, (perhaps most likely) they felt they needed to rebalance the line-up with a tall male and maybe wanted a ballroom specialist too. Perhaps they just wanted to find a place for Kevin, but since we know that he was ready and willing before, something must have changed.

If the rumoured female celeb line-up was outstanding, I'd be inclined to think they just had too many good ones to turn one away, but it doesn't look particularly stellar to me!

I think it's probably something mundane, like they think bigger/more = better. Hope that doesn't backfire. When they had 16 slebs it was too much......

I know the BBC love Anton, but I don't really see them re-organising things like this, just so Anton doesn't have to dance with anyone else (two extra salaries, an extra week of studio time and all those costs etc).

If Anton was the problem, it would be a lot less complicated to just switch around the pro pairings here and there (which they do anyway depending on who's still in the competition), or bring in Ian, say, to stand in for Anton here and there - or even have Erin back for an exhibition or two.

Who is the extra pro if this is true?

Kevin Clifton

Not my type

I think maybe they wanted to introduce some more home grown talent in the pro line up too......I think they were banking on this with Emma but obviously she pulled out. I know some may regard Flavia as Italian but I saw her and even Vincent as homegrown because Flavia spent most of her life here and they both represented Britain in competitions.........so having lost those two I think they needed some more homegrown talent in the new pro line up.