Every so often we hear of names who specifically turned down their invitation (unlike Rebecca Adlington who was herself turned down)

I know of Maureen Lipman, Victoria Wood, Ross Noble and Barbara Windsor who have all said "Thanks but No".

Do we know any others?

Joan Collins recently said that she had turned it down.

Colin Firth? Kiera 'La-Chin' Knightly? Emma Thompson? Claudia Shaeffer? Rupert Penry Jones (though the last one might join the show as he seemed to have disappeared from the scene except on ITV)?

Apparently Jamelia gets asked every year & turns it down. It might be too awkward for her to take part now given her friendship with Alesha.

Teri Hatcher was hotly rumoured to be a contestant this year. Anyone know if she turned it down?

Will Carling

They've asked Richard Madeley in the past. I wished he'd give in and do it, imagine him trying to do a jive or a raunchy rhumba

Alan Titchmarsh has turned it down as well.

Thank goodness for that. I really would have to stop watching if he was on - until he was eliminated of course.

Joanna Trollope feared being made fun of

I agree, that creep makes my flesh crawl.

Really? I thought Richard was gagging to be on the show. I live in constant fear.

I remember hearing Jonathan Ross and Eamonn Holmes discussing their invites.

I'd imagine almost any celebrity you can think of has been asked.

Chris Moyles was constantly asked when he was on Radio 1. One year he spent ages saying he was going to do it just to wind the gullible up.

Richard was actually going to be in series 8 but pulled out at the last minute - Matt Baker took his place.

Simon Cowell. He could not find a support bra strong enough

Chris Evans - he is rumoured every year but not sure if he has been asked and turned it down.......

Victoria Wood and Ed Byrne have both dedicated portions of their material to discussing why they turned it down.

Others we know of- Craig David, Ruby Wax, Geri Halliwell, Michael Owen, Zandra Rhodes, Natalie Imbruglia and Peter Andre.

I'm amazed the publicity-ravenous Andre turned it down! obviously because he wouldn't have enough/any control over outcome and editing.

He's fairly vocal in his support for SCD on his radio show, including saying that he would never, ever put himself in that position, so perhaps the producers have just decided there's no point asking

I think I'm in the minority in being a Madeley fan and would actually quite like to see him because I think he'd take it seriously - but then I thought that about Vanessa, whose intelligence and general resilience I admire, and that was clearly a mistake on my part

Can't say anyone else in that list is making me lose sleep though. The thought of Michael Owen doing anything that requires a modicum of personality makes me want to weep

I suspect that we will never know the full truth.

There must be many cases where agents have tried to get people on the programme to boost (or revive) their career perhaps even without the knowledge of the celebrity! They could then leak that the person has been invited and if there is no invitation then spin it so it looks as if they turned down an invitation.

Many people are probably informally asked by people associated with the programme without a proper invite just so they can be considered.

As has been said, it's mostly people who have naff-all to do for the three months before Christmas or those who want to revive a flagging career.
Apart from the usual BBC employee of course, as they will be given every assistance possible.

Vanessa was a typical example of the attitude of some. She wanted to be in the spotlight, but didn't want to do the necessary work.
Some others in the past with full-time jobs have made the effort.

I think Strictly comes at the worst possible time of the year for celebs with busy schedules- as it's right through the Christmas run-up. I remember Katherine Jenkins saying she was desperate to take part, but the Oct-Dec months are the busiest for her in terms of promoting albums etc. Thats why she eventually did DWTS in March instead.

This is true. Those heavily involved in pantomime are under real pressure in December.
Unfortunately, the way Ms Jenkin's career has gone recently, she might be available for SCD next year.

You mean it's like the zelebrity equivalent of shelf-stacking in Tesco?

Sophie (on Strictly now) said she had been asked before, turned it down, but then finally decided to give it a go when asked again. I couldn't remember if she'd said she'd been asked a couple of times and not just once.