Thank you JR

I was lucky enough to be at the Red Carpet event last night - brilliant night!

Some info that might explain the pro dancers outfits - they make their arrivals in a huge, red, glittery rocket on the stage, so maybe they were going for a 'space' look? The judges also 'arrive' this way and Anton and Brendan went back to escort Claudia and Tess out - except the rocket door wouldn't lift up properly at this point and Claudia crawled out underneath it before they re-filmed

The celebs lined up on the stage and were called down in pairs to walk the red carpet - I agree, some of their outfits were questionable!

The best part was when the celebs were chatting to the press on the red carpet - the pro dancers came into the audience to mingle, chat and give a lot of hugs, Wasn't expecting that, they were so lovely and pumped up for the new series. I got to chat/hug with Janette, Alijaz, Karen, Kevin, Brendan, Anton (think he hugged EVERYONE in the crowd!) and new boys , Gorka, AJ and Neil. I did ask AJ how old he was and Neil joked '16' (he looked it!) He was joking about how much make up they put on him, but was very excited to be there,

Zoe Ball was also there filming for It Takes Two. The red carpet 'mingling' went on for quite a while, but did notice Will Young was barely on it and hanging around to the side instead. He did seem a bit awkward with it all last night. Lesley was the last one to stop chatting away

Finally, they filmed the start of the opening dance routine - 3 times! They start with C&C Music Factory 'Everybody Dance Now' and merge into Justin Timberlake 'Can't Stop the Feeling' ................ which is obviously cut short, to be continued tonight!

I was impressed how organised it all was and how much love the dancers gave back to the crowd - at the end, we could see inside the studio and it has all got me very excited for the show to start now, hope it's a good one!

Thanks so much for the write up Tinkerbella - sounds like it was a great evening

Thanks, Tinkerbella! Glad you had such fun and the pros were friendly and excited.


Will too cool for school? 🤔

Claudia crawling out from under the door is so ..... Claudia!

Thank you for the write up Tinkerbella, sounds like a brilliant evening

If you can't see it on iplayer, you can record it from the bbc Red Button Channel :

Sky - chan 980
Freeview - 601
Freesat - 981
Virgin - 991

Starts 7.25pm; usually only very short prog, but continues on loop for couple of hours.

Thanks, kaycee!

Thank you so much for the recap

That's great Tinkerbella! Thanks

Can I ask, where was it held and how did you get to be present?

You're welcome

That sounds amazing
Can you see yourself in any of the photos?

fgs- I've had Sky for years now and never knew red button was on 980! So much quicker to access than using the actual red button. And can record it too.

Thank you

And thanks to Tinkerbella for the write up too. Always interesting to hear what folk are like off-screen- especially when they're nice.

Red Carpet from last night has just gone up on IPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...he-celebrities

Thank you, going to watch now

Hi

It's filmed at Elstree; they literally set up a little stage and red carpet leading into the usual Strictly studio. I got tickets through the BBC website - like a lot of people, have applied for Strictly tickets for years and never had any luck, until last night! Really wasn't sure what to expect, but to meet and greet the pro dancers was an added bonus and amazing night - especially as they were so lovely to all the crowd, climbing up to hug people.

Need to catch up on the Iplayer later!

Neil appears to rule himself out of having a partner "I'm really really excited to be part of all these group dances".

I think it will be Neil and Chloe now who aren't partnering someone.

Its starting in just a minute !

Can start on IPlayer any minute you want, no need for red button.

Some of us like to watch TV on TV though!

BBC iPlayer is also available on TV via a Sky Box or BT Box (I have both). Maybe that's what A.D.P meant.

I like it live

And Katya talks about what she wants in a dance partner - so she looks like she's in.

Other observations:

I was surprised at how terrified Will & Danny looked. Loved the latter giving a quick flash of his pecs though!!!

Did not know anything about Daisy before but have fallen madly in love with her voice - so husky and sexy!!!

Laura and her "new-found confidence" is already beyond annoying. I liked her on IACGMOOHN but she really needs to reign it in here

Neil also looks like he's going to be somewhat grating.