Think it would be tango and MCHammer

So all three of the celebs confirmed so far have made at least week 9 of 13; that's pretty reasonable I reckon.

indeed
i wonder if Fiona's doing the tour ...

Mark, Natalie and Ben now confirmed

http://strictlycomedancinglive.com/the-latest/

So pleased that Natalie is doing the tour! Think the 3 celebs so far will entertain the public well.

I hope it's his 'cat burglar' Tango and his MC Hammer Cha Cha

ETA - Oops, sorry Pashulty

Yeah, I think they would go for those 2 dances as well, both are good fun and crowdpleasing.

They normally have 1 or 2 contestants from past series on the tour too. I wonder who he/her/they will be this time around?

Posted off to Santa, hoping for Scott now he's left Eastenders.
(Been an awful good girl, Santa Baby! )

I tried to get tickets this morning, so wanted to see Mark, I would have put up with blooming Riley for that but no luck.

Hubby offered to get me tickets for the tour this year but I couldn't bear the thought of watching Lisa hosting.

I think I read somewhere that Mark will be doing another run in Hairspray next year. If he does then maybe you could see him in that?

If the BBC made it possible for Chris Hollins to go on tour then they may be willing to let Susanna too.

Why not?

She's not indispensable in the Newsroom, or anywhere at the BBC.
Plenty more where she came from.

If she wants to go, let her go.

I was thinking more along the lines of, as Susannas profile went up so would her usefulness to the BBC. (after all there is only so much Fiona Bruce can do!!! )

I've always said that the BBC "engineer" this show, (I don't mean fix the vote) so that they've got a good chance of one of their people winning.

Don't get me started on that muppet Fiona Bruce.

I can't stand her on the Antiques Roadshow. I'm only surprised considering how many times she pops up in a programme, the BBC haven't yet worked her name into the title.
I much preferred the more self-effacing Michael Aspel

The better the "strictly" BBC presenters (news, sports and weather reporters) do then the better the BBC looks because of association. The BBC seems to bend over backwards for its news staff to take part and we never end up with a Kate Garroway!

And I agree with you about Michael Aspel, he was rather lovely.

Ok so the BBC engineer their 'employees' to win.

So we have 10 current Strictly Champions.

Series 1 Natasha Kaplinsky. Yes she worked for the BBC it was series 1 everything was new
Series 2 Jill Halfpenny not connected to BBC
Series 3 Darren Gough Sportsman
Series 4 Mark Ramps Sportsman
Series 5 Alesha Dixon (they could easily have arranged for their BBC employee Gethin to win but they most DEFINATELY didn't in fact the opposir)
Series 6 Tom Chambers. He worked on a BBC show but they didn't want him to win
Series 7 Chris Hollins BBC but again they did their best to try & stop him winning
Series 8 Kara Tointon not BBC
Series 9 Harry Judd musician
Series 10 Louis Smith sportsman

If you can give me examples of how they engineer this almost complete failure of getting a BBC winner I would be interested to hear it

Hi Jan!! My tickets for Birmingham might become available if my broken back isn't fixed by then...

Series 2 Jill Halfpenny not connected to BBC - Just left Eastenders - BBC

Series 3 Darren Gough Sportsman - Given a BBC radio show straight after Strictly

Series 8 Kara Tointon not BBC - Just left Eastenders - BBC.

6 out of 10 Winners isn't bad.
The BBC does not do vote rigging but it also does not have really bad "dancers" taking part.

I don't know why you bothered, read my post again.
I said,
so that they've got a good chance of one of their people winning.

That means to anyone with any intelligence, that by virtue of their selection, they have a chance.
That's all I said.
It doesn't necessarily mean they'll win, but they stand more chance than some of the others selected.
Susanna is a classic example of their typical choice.

How can you say they didn't want Chris Hollins to win?
Is that because it doesn't suit your argument?

You need to distinguish between the BBc, TPTB and the judges. Their agendas can completely different and often conflicted. The bbc has the least direct power and the judges the most, but still it is pretty obvious if you also consider finalists.

eries 1 Natasha Kaplinsky. she worked for the BBC
Series 2 Jill Halfpenny - ex eastenders, connected to BBC
Series 3 Darren Gough Sportsman
Series 4 Mark Ramps Sportsman
Series 5 Alesha Dixon (they could easily have arranged for their BBC employee Gethin to win but they most DEFINATELY didn't in fact the opposite, but that was judges doing rather than bbc, Matt do Angelo was in eastenders and later in the con man series.)
Series 6 Tom Chambers. He worked on a BBC show - judges didn't but TPTB or Bbc didn't do much against. In fact, they realised the mistake in semi final and helped him get in the final (even for strictly legal reasons).
Series 7 Chris Hollins - BBC and TPTB they did their best for him winning and pretty anti Ricky.
Series 8 Kara Tointon - ex eastenders BBC - that year also Matt baker (bbc pushed him to win, but TPTB and judges would not have it) and Scott maslen (eastenders, all very positive)
Series 9 Harry Judd musician
Series 10 Louis Smith sportsman

So if we separate the three aspects and consider recent history, don't things change?

TPTB - stands for?

The powers that be, meaning the producers of the show. Their agenda is to create a very successful, watched and talked about program. They really don't care much who wins, as long as it helps the strictly brand.

The judges want the best dancers to win and/or reach the final, even though sometimes the public, even those on the know, will not agree with them.

The BBC wants a winner that has links to the bbc, someone they can benefit from their exposure. Even if it is in the recent past (ex eastenders) brings publicity to their brands.

One of the best examples that Bbc and TPTB did not agree on were Matt Baker and Kara. For the bbc it was obvious that they rather liked the idea of Matt winning (outside the strictly programs the bbc was pretty nice to him), but TPTB were very keen on Kara (who was the better dancer as well female after two consecutive male winners) and cleverly used small things in Kara's favor and displayed ways to undermine Matt (small vt with comments and things edited that made him look in a worst light). I do thing though that Kara was a better dancer and deserved much more winning!

Thank you for the TPTB explanation, I was trying all sorts of weird and wonderful word combinations trying to figure it out.

It took me a while to know it. I usually try to say with all the letters first on the post, but when I am on my mobile as I am now, it is a bit difficult.