I know that posting this will mean they suddenly announce.

Do you think they are struggling to get celebs to do the tour this year

They keep saying names coming soon & then nothing.

Thinking about our current celebs I'm really not sure they are the 'touring' kind.

Mark would be a good choice but will his knees stop him

Sophie. Can't see her wanting to do it frankly

Natalie. A possible but injuries again

Abbey. Possibly

Susanna. I would say not but who knows

Ben. Possibly but doesn't seem to be loving it

Ashley. Too busy


I think they might be having a struggle to sign them.

think you could be right

hmm, it certainly seems like they might be - we normally have a few rumoured names at this time of year or even confirmation of a couple but so far we have the 3 judges and LR ()

I would say out of the currently line up

Mark
Deborah
Rachel (maybe not sure of her work schedule)
Dave (possibly)

I have to wonder if they are also struggling for pros, so many of them seem to have other shows or other stuff going on outside SCD.

Fiona said she would be game but you are right I can see why the top half of this years contestants (i.e. those still in) would possibly find it difficult to commit to touring the UK.

However don't they resurrect previous year's 'stars' habitually in any case? I guess it does need one or two of the highest finishers from this year to give it credibility.

The trouble is, a lot of the people they've chosen this year have very active work lives and aren't likely to be able to commit a further amount of time in the new year.

I imagine Abbey, Natalie, Mark and Deborah might take part- after that, I really have no idea. Susanna has said she wants to, but her BBC Breakfast commitments are pretty constricting.

Actually it might be a good sign that these celebs DO have their day jobs to return to.

There must be a finite number of shows which can support themselves and returns to the same venues.

I don't know what his other commitments are, but he seems popular and could thus command a decent fee for what is hard physical but otherwise undemanding work, and as an ex-pro sportsman, he's used to hard work.

Maybe time away from the Little Cohens would be an issue.

So this isn't about The Ashes?

No . I have been a 'tourists' widow more than once for the Ashes & the Lions

I think they shot themselves in the foot a bit by not only reducing the number of shows in some places but moving them to midweek. That might have been governed by other factors, but anecdotally I know a lot of folk who had gone to the nearest show to us in previous years but stopped a couple of years back simply because the dates and timings were no longer as easy to access.

I have always suspected that the reinstatement of the dance-off, some of the overmarking and the shepherding of certain celebs towards the final has a lot to do with who has signed up for the tour rather than who is performing well. I imagine those celebs who signed up for the tour did so when they signed their contracts for the show (most actors I work with already often have their work schedule planned well in advance). They probably delay announcing who is doing the tour to avoid making the blatant orchestration of pushing certain celebs less obvious.

this makes sense to me

You are right Jan, I was wondering the same thing

Do the BBC have any involvement in these "Strictly" shows?
I thought someone posted last year that they were independent, like those of former and current pros.

It does look that way

The BBC don't produce the shows but they do make money from them as they own the Strictly franchise and, therefore, are invested in their success. The live tours and the television Strictly are both ambassadors and publicity for each other and, I am sure, the BBC want to ensure the tours are stocked with their choice of higher-profile celebs.

Thanks for that, I assumed there'd be a licence, as there is for other networks to produce their own Strictly.

Personally, I think they are more focused on getting whoever they can who will be a ratings draw for the three months before Christmas. As I doubt that they'll be getting "a share of the gate" from the tours, I'd think being available for the tour is a secondary consideration.

Interesting theory - how does that apply to say last year of you look back?

Is this true ? Hopefully...From a Daily Star columnist ...

JAMES INGHAM ‏@JAMESINREHAB 1h
Ben Cohen; Natalie Gumede & Mark Benton have become the first set of celebs to be confirmed for next year's Strictly Come Dancing Tour.

So a few more weeks of Ben and Mark then ...

This suggests an early bath for Patrick I suspect.

Hmm..

I wonder how "early" those were confirmed?

I saw that James Jordan answered a question on his twitter yesterday and he said that they hadn't been asked yet. Not sure if that's just him and Ola or the pros in general, but you'd think it would make sense to get the pros signed up first.

the celebs who did last years tour were Denise, Lisa, Dani, Louis, Michael, Fern and Phil Tufnell - out of those 7, 4 made the final

coincidently I asked Hayley (singer) if she was doing the tour and she also said she didnt know yet

Not so sure; I think Mark might be out this week.

Given his knees, I'm surprised Mark's doing the tour. He'll have to be careful to choose dances that won't impact on them the way the Jive would. Perhaps his Waltz and his Tango?