Strictly fanatics, what do you make of the names announced so far? I thought it was looking interesting, good (potential) mix of age, comedy and talent, but the along comes Peter Andre - no,no, NO! The guy is unremittingly tedious and saccharine. Let's hope the others to be announced are able to give us an entertaining and interesting series. As I do every year, I'll probably be about 10 minutes into it before saying, "This won't be as good as last year!", then, I'll watch it all anyway. I'll even watch It Takes Two, although I find Zoe Ball exhausting. Good viewing and roll on September!

You may wish to post this on the threads in the Strictly forum.

Yes - thanks. How do I do that?

Jeremy - Good signing
Ainsley - Good signing
Kellie - Good signing
Georgia - Didn't know her but seems lovely
Katie - didn't know her and still don't know what to think of her.
Carol - good signing.
Peter - makes the lineup look 100% cheaper.
Daniel - Might have had his day but extremely obscure for the under 20 age bracket I'd say.

Sorry but... Massively underwhelmed thus far...

Keeping everything crossed for the remaining reveals😛

Jeremy - Lovely
Ainsley - Lovely with a bit of life
Kellie - Lovely
Georgia - Lovely
Katie - Lovely
Carol - Lovely
Peter - Lovely with cheese
Daniel - The Loveliest Luvvie of them all.

It's all just to vanilla we need some spark, someone who is feisty some eye candy anything I don't know they all just seem nice.

Everyone they've cast seems to be a good fit for the type of role they seem to have been cast for, if that makes sense. The problem so far is that, apart from Georgia and Peter, the obvious frontrunners, and therefore those who are likely to be around for almost every episode, are either hidden amongst people who are unlikely on paper (Katie? Ainsley?) or yet to be revealed, so it's hard to judge the strength of the cast as a whole without its most important members. I'm so here for DO'D as the Sergeant/Widdy figure though if his fanbase mobilise enough, it's going to be hilarious.

If I wish hard enough, with enough gusto and force, Katie will be a Ballroom Goddess with Good Latin, right? Not the "Passable Ballroom, Pants Latin Week 5 Boot" she's probably meant to be?

I am hoping we only have one or two contestants left in the 60+ bracket and the remaining six are in the 20-39 bracket, as we need some youth as well in this line-up. I find the line-up fascinating actually, and I am interested to see how it pans out. Some of these names were NEVER on my Strictly radar - particularly Daniel O'Donnell.

For someone of my age bracket it's pretty awful so far. I'd never heard of Jeremy, Carol or Katie and don't particularly feel like I should have either, hadn't heard of Daniel before either and he doesn't particularly interest me from what I've read today. I'd only heard of Georgia and Kellie because I follow the soaps but neither are particularly impressive soap signings - Kellie plays a big character in EE atm but she hasn't been in it for very long and Georgia played a minor character with hardly any storylines or impact on Corrie, (although she is definitely needed in this line up atm for the age balance!) most of the soap signings in previous series have been more impressive than those two. Peter is probably the one I'm the most familiar with but he seems kind of a 'cheap' signing, especially as he is primarily known for reality TV. Ainsley is an alright signing I guess but nothing outstanding and not enough to save this line up so far. I really hope we get some better (and particularly younger) names next, but I don't see why they'd leave all the big names for the 2nd half so I'm not feeling too optimistic. Last year's line up was looking MUCH better at this point.

Jeremy - Seems nice enough, but probably has two left feet
Ainsley - His cheery act may tire very quickly.
Kellie - decent signing, even if her Pointless appearance jarred with me a bit
Georgia - Who?? From the interview she looks an Abbey clone, right down to the voice
Katie - A very good classy signing
Carol - As with Ainsley, it may become a bit tiring (at least she has those nice weather balloons )
Peter - The biggest star in the (final) line-up, but perhaps not the kind of star that Strictly needs.
Daniel - Who?????????? First of all, I'm not from the isles, but even so this has to be one of the most obscure signings ever (he would make my top 10).

Fearing a bit that the producers couldn't get that many youngsters this year (apart from a obscure soap lass at the moment) and therefore have gone for Andre to get the headlines (but all the comments make it clear that people want a few youngsters).

And eight names so far, and I can only see Andre and Foote being any decent at the latin numbers.

Katie seemed to have a fair bit of rhythm in the Newsroom's Got Talent clip I saw somewhere on here (I promise that's the last pro-Katie post of the night, I'm beginning to nauseate even myself; I think it's the "cling desperately to any interesting signings like they were driftwood after a ship capsise" mentality taking hold).

It's very much a line up designed to keep Strictly's older demographic happy, frankly I can see it being a bit of a dull series if the rest of the rumoured line up is true, desperately need some decent names and competitors for the glitter ball to come (Amazingly out of this lot I reckon Andre will be the best, which is saying something)

It's like they saw how Xfactor have changed things up and are going for a younger audience so some bright ass Strictly exec thought ha well we'll go for the older audience, I hope I'm wrong and the reveals to come are a bit more exciting. Atm if SCD and XF went head to head I would watch XF and catch up watch Strictly sorry but then I could also pause Aljaz,Tristan, Pasha and Giovanne ok nooooo I will watch Strictly live and record and watch again.

Jeremy - quite like, hope he surprises
Ainsley - love him, my favourite male signing
Kellie - never heard of
Georgia - never heard of but suspect a Georgia-Giovanni showmance to play out
Katie - never heard of but looks elegant, clean classy rumba for Brendan?!
Carol - love her, my favourite female signing
Peter - love to hate his professed love for his kids, great to take the piss out of
Daniel - comedy duffer surely who will outcheese the orange one and upset the judges by making it to the later stages if he never makes bottom two

Fairly horrified by an opening show conga locomotion/love train though.

Jeremy - very unusual choice, but a very good signing.

Ainsley - very good signing, really like Ainsley, I feel like he's gonna have a fair bit of rhythm in the Latin too!

Kellie - IMO, she is EastEnders leading lady at the minute, between her and Laurie Brett them two have dominated the show, acting wise and screen time, great signing!

Georgia - although she played a bit part in Corrie, she seems to be popular with the magazines and tabloids, she seems lovely and I think the classic men will find her attractive.

Katie - first signing I hadn't heard of since Fiona Fullerton, she seems very popular and she appears to have a quirky personality, looking forward to her.

Carol - most underwhelming for me, she seems very popular on here, but I'm not sure how well she will translate.

Peter - I don't get the cheap comments, he's probably getting paid the most! (Unless they still do staggered payments), he's a very big name in the UK, a lot of people know him and he does have a good fanbase, think he will attract more viewers too.

Daniel - again, obscure? He's really well known IMO, compared to the Fiona's, Nancy's, Dan Lobbs, he's Angelina Jolie, he's a great signing who matches a certain area of strictlys fanbase! Very well done Strictly.

All in all a very strong line up, very impressed.

I totally agree with you here pothuthic!

Heck, I live in New Zealand and I know who Daniel O'Donnell is, along with Katie Derham, Ainsley Harriott and Jeremy Vine (we get the Proms, R.S.C and Eggheads on our television). For the soaps we get both Corrie and EastEnders so I do know the women as I will watch soaps now and again if bored. I obviously know who Peter Andre is, he is a great signing, if a tad annoying. The only one I wasn't familiar with was Carol Kirkwood! I've only recently come to know her, and from what I've seen, I really love her!

So for me, the eight are great. However! I am more wanting to see a diversity of ages. I want to see some 20s and 30s along with one or two over 60s from the coming eight. At this point we have (24, 39, 42, 45, 50, 53, 53, 58). That's a fair few 40-50s!

I totally agree with the latter, some younger people to go with these great names please, still holding out hope for a Tyger signing

I think I'd only heard of about three of the contestants last year but I'm up to five already this time. That can't be bad. Even though Peter Andre lives the reality show lifestyle he has at least been a successful performer in his own right.

I wonder... I'd like to see some more young lads and lasses on the show. Not people in my age range plodding around the dance floor.

Of the contestants announced so far, I'm not expecting those who I do quite like to be particularly good dancers. I'll be delighted if they prove me wrong, but I'm not expecting it. Of the rest, I'm either completely indifferent to them or else I find them irritating. I'm not strongly against anyone, I'm just not excited about any of them. Well, not yet, anyway. I'm hoping some of them might surprise me once Strictly starts.

This for me too. I watch for the dancing and with this line up it looks pedestrian at best. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the reveals to come that they are younger, have more spark and look like contenders. As for DO. I can see him being one who hangs on far past his sell by date due to his fanatic fanbase. I am underwhelmed at present and with the likes of Shane Ritchie to potentially come it's not looking likely to improve. Far too much cheese.

Yes I agree, it seem Peter will appear in anything at any time to make money. Rather disappointed that so many reality stars (which is basically all he is now, what happened to his singing career??) are involved in Strictly. It seems to be reality stars, soap stars and weather girls!!!! Shame I was looking forward to September but cannot say I am excited about the line up, so far, not unless they have someone interesting that has not been revealed yet.

Jeremy - happy. Could be a surprise
Ainsley - mad as a box of frogs - but will throw himself in with gusto so happy
Kellie - very pleased - love her in EE
Georgia - happy - easy on the eye and possible contender
Katie - pleased - dark horse
Carol - ecststic! Been wanting her to do Strictly for ever!
Peter - either a fan or hate him - big name signing who I hope does well
Daniel O'Donnell - very underwhelmed. Seems like a nice bloke though. 1st boot material

The standard and the overall "look" just improved with the addition of Anthony Ogogo! Along with Carol & Kellkie, my faves so far and a definite potential winner!