Zoe has suggested in this DS story that there be a non-celebrity version of the show:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s104/...-spin-off.html

So do you think it's a good idea?
Would you watch it?
Would you apply to be on it?!
Who would you want to dance with?

Personally I think it's a fab idea and everyone else can get behind me in the queue. I'll be the one with the gold heels, the 'Ballroom for Dummies' folder and the 'I LOVE KEVIN' T-shirt

Nice as a one off or annual special maybe...not sure about long term, what sort of folk would be able to take time out of life to do it?

One way to find lots of people on a JOURNEY with their two left feet like Dave. I for one wouldnt watch it.

Wouldn't want to watch it. The only bit of ITT that I ff is the bit with that couple being taught to dance by Natalie Lowe. I definitely wouldn't want to watch a whole series of it.

SCD already has non Celeb entries in this years show.

I'm not sure if I would do it, but Errol said that he would be on it like a shot.

No i don't think i would tune in either!... As much as i have always been a fan of Strictly i do find my enthusiasm is now wavering!.. Whether its the fact that it has been on for too many years now or it is the contestants that they are getting, but for the last year or two i just haven't been into it so much and i don't think it will be much longer before i can't even be bothered to tune into the main series anymore!, let alone a non celebrity version......:yawn:

I don't think I'd watch it, but I'd love to do it! That is, I wouldn't necessarily want to dance on television, but I'm so curious every year whether I'd be able to dance well if taught by a private pro teacher.

ETA:
Agree. I don't ff those bits, but I do find myself thinking "what are those unknown people doing on this show?" :s.

Ive always thought the idea of getting a couple of ordinary people (one male one female) on the main show with the rest so called celebrities would be a good plan.

It has often made me cross that some celebrities don't really enjoy the process or often not really try and it would be interesting to see if some ordinary people would use the opportunity to learn to dance by and with a pro more.

I don't think a whole series would be viable nor a one off special either since to learn properly more than one dance you'd need a number of weeks.

(And I'd do it like a shot if there was the opportunity )

I think it's a splendid idea and would definitely watch. To be honest I'm a tad sick of everything having to feature 'celebrities' all the time - it's often much more interesting to watch normal people. Not that celebs aren't normal, but you know what I mean.

I'd do it if given the opportunity (and was able to just drop work for 4 months ), but as I've been dancing since 2004 I'd be labelled a ringah, even though my dancing is still terrible. It would be interesting to find out if it improved dramatically through having 8 hours private tuition everyday though.

I can't imagine a non-celeb version being a ratings winner though. I think they would need to further engineer the show to have "characters" in a Big Brother style selection (not that I've ever watched more than a couple of minutes of the very first ever BB) and that could detract from the learning to dance part. I think it would be worse than the celebrities with the cries of unfair advantage for every person who might have done the tiniest bit of dance somewhere in their lives.

Now there's an idea.

Dance for your supper - the new reality TV show that takes 12 unemployed people and makes them learn to dance for 13 weeks in return for their benefits.

I'm guessing that a lot of us in here aren't X Factor fans (I'm certainly not), but why do we think that SCD starring non-famous people would be less successful than, say, that show or Big Brother?

God knows the casting process would be just as rigorous as for any celeb series - probably more so as they'd have the choice of a lot more people - and you'd end up with the same sort of mix of personalities that you get on any series.

On other reality shows they fit the extra-curricular stuff around their day jobs, as do the celebs on SCD, so perhaps it'd be possible for people who work full-time to do it. Albeit at a hefty cost to their social lives...

And, as pointed out rather snidely, it'd hardly be the first time many of us had tuned in to SCD and not known who some of the competitors were

PS I think there would have to be some sort of limit to the actual levels of training undergone before you joined the show. Those of you who've been dancing for years would have to compete viciously for the one 'ringah' spot

I'm recommending this for Post of the Day

but to answer Lorelei's question, no I wouldn't want to be on it nor watch it

Bake Off doesn't feature celebs and it is pretty popular even though as viewers we don't even get to eat their creations.

Your post is spot on for me

I guess for me it would depend on the criteria. Would it be for complete non-dancers, for people who have a bit of dance knowledge (maybe ballet as child) but no latin or ballroom experience, or keen amateur ballroom / latin dancers?

I would love to be taught by one of the pros! (FYI, I fall in the middle category )

When you put it like that LL, yes, I think I would tune in

In fact, when I think about it, by the end of each series of Strictly, the celebrities stop being 'celebrities' in my eyes and I see them as just people, contestants, part of a couple/team.

It would be like the reverse of most shows. Whereas the regular version of Masterchef, Big Brother etc came first, this would be the other way round. And I reckon that whilst it wouldn't attract 10 million viewers like the celebrity version does, it could still work and be successful.

But as for taking part, no way! 90 seconds of watching me try to dance and the British audience would be boycotting their BBC licence fees.

Dedicated one on one training for 30 plus hours a week? With a pro who is experienced in teaching non dancers? Get private tuition in every one of 12 (is it?) dances? (although sadly as an over 40 I would never stay long enough to do them all)

You bet your sweet a***s I would do it. It would be a dream come true.

...and that's one of my favorite ongoing sagas! Maybe because I am really missing Natalie this year. But I'd watch a non-celebrity version. How often do you see people post that they don't know any of the celebs on the show anyway?

Hmmm. It might work. As others have pointed out, the GBBO features non-celebs, as does Masterchef, although their cooking is practically professional to start with, so I don't know what criteria they would use to select the contestants for such a dance competition - would they go for diversity or inherent talent? Would there be the joke contestant (me)? The dirty ringah who'd been to stage school? The older mumsy type (me again)?

With apologies for those of us for whom the very sight of Jimmy Saville is abhorrent, Jim'll Fix It arranged for a Strictly fan to do a routine with Ian Waite. Be careful how you comment, as she is/was a forum member...

On a slightly different theme, but still featuring non-dancers, they did Dancing on Wheels on BBC3 (or BBC4 or some such channel in the nether regions of the TV schedules), which featured Brian Fortuna presiding over amateur wheelchair dancers partnered with celebrities (nary a pro dancer in sight, other than Brian and Kristina doing the choreo, and James and Ola on the judging panel). I thought that was an excellent programme and I was impressed by Brian's world-class swearing... I wouldn't mind seeing another series of that.

I would

I'd love to do it, but I'd be rubbish! With Strictly I found I've often not heard of many of the 'celebrities' anyway, so if non-celebs did the show it wouldn't make much difference to me!

I honestly don't know if I would watch or not. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of Strictly is seeing celebrities who I only know through their media persona completely confound expectations, like Chelsee Healey last year or Deborah Meaden this time, and to see how people well-known (to use the term loosely in some cases ) in one sphere adapt to something outside their comfort zone, e.g. Mark Ramprakash.

When it comes to reality shows, I love GBBO and all the Masterchefs (in fact Celeb Masterchef tends to be my least favourite of the three, albeit only just) but they are slightly different in that in general they involve watching people who are already good at something get better. Also the personalities are allowed to develop naturally without being OTT; that is not the main focus of the programme.

Conversely I don't watch X Factor or Big Brother because I don't like the sob stories, the exaggerated personalities, the desperation for fame that exudes off some of the participants and the 'staged' elements - I know there is a little of that in Strictly but not to the same extent. I also don't like the underlying cruelty - the X Factor auditions where poor deluded people who think they can sing are laughed at, not with.

If it was in a similar vein to the former, then I would probably give it a watch to at least see what it was like. If the latter, definitely not.

I'd love to do it, getting partnered up with Aljaz, Pasha or Vincent would be amazing.