After the debacle when Aliona was injured with 9 days to go to the first show and they had no-one to replace her until the Tuesday before the show, I think they have sought to have coverage in case a pro gets injured. They had Anya Garnis fill that role (and some choreographing) and she stood in after Ola was injured.

Joanne is doing ITT and I thought she was doing something to do with the First Training videos after she was mentioned by celebs on Twitter. I was expecting to see her doing the interviews, but they edited the clips to only show the responses from the celebs and pros.

I can only imagine Joanne is doing ITT because the producers think her personality and charm will appeal to the audience. I can't include myself in that target group because I found the squeaky voice and forced "whackiness" (IMO) extremely annoying.

Nothing that birthed Iveta into the world of Strictly could ever be a debacle.

To be honest I found her standing front and centre on The Claditorium, dressed in dancing gear that I never saw her dancing to this week, rather tragic. She isn't part of the duos and that's who should ge front and centre, it was her habit yo do so even once she was voted out last year.

She certainly did not cover herself with glory last year, I have no idea why she would be on the credits or the Clauditorium

Do you think the other Cliftons might have threatened to leave if she wasn't included somehow?

I thought it was her at the end of the credits and it really got my back up. Why is she getting special treatment? She annoyed the hell out of me last year and she's still hanging around like a bad smell this year.

BIB ....... Mmmm....... now there was a missed opportunity methinks !


I am wondering if she will be better ( couldn't be worse ) on ITT, but not holding out much hope really.

Yes I agree, her standing there with no partner as a spare part just seemed sad.
I have no idea what they are doing with her, yes they always have a pro who could take over if someone is injured, but they do not stand there with everyone else duri g the show with hair and make up done and they are not the last shot of the titles either.

It is all very strange.

I was pleased to see her at the end of the opening titles. I suspect that things went pear-shaped through no fault of her own and the production team is doing its best to make amends which is commendable.

Something strange is going on for sure, I think. Maybe it has to do with the other Cliftons being upset if she were summarily dropped? Three Cliftons is a bit ludicrous but that's Karen's doing - most women keep their performance name - I think Aliona's still going by Vilani on the show because that's how we got to know her. Karen could use her real name in private. (I do understand that Hauer was a previous husband's name but still... there were two other Cliftons on the show and it's just too ridiculous.)

But there's more strangeness. They hired a NEW girl. They didn't have to. The custom has been to alternate 8 male celebs with 8 female ones for a while now so why go looking elsewhere for this series? And they already dropped Aliona once - and she's a previous winner, yet they give her a contender that Joanne could have had? Surely everyone knows Scott was hopeless - yet it clearly seems they're blaming Joanne anyway (there was the rumour that they had to bring Jason Gilkison back to town just to help Joanne)

sorry to ramble - but I think all those are signs they don't plan on bringing her back to the main roster and they're giving her a velvet parachute or whatever you call it - instead of a sudden rude dismissal, and family connections is the only reason I can think of. Or maybe because she's a British champion so maybe they feel she deserves kid-glove treatment. Does anyone really think she shone as a commentator on ITT with her baby-talk voice? - I certainly didn't and her absence from the early training videos is more evidence she didn't come off well.

She just tweeted that she had another singing lesson, and in the off-season, she took presenting lessons, so I think those things suggest she knows she might need to find a different niche.

....my god the length of this... I'm turning into Daniel O'Dodderer

I agree! Something does seem odd. Is it her at the end of the titles? That's not happened before has it? I've read lots of rumours on a lot of help required with her choreography. If tonight's ITT VT report was anything to go by her appearance was so minimal what's the point apart from a velvet parachute away from the main show. Her baby voice does grate on me too.

I don't understand the Aliona thing either, she was dropped but now is being rumoured has a likely winner.

Didn't know Hauer was a previous married name. Good knowledge!

On the plus side I think Oti seems a great find!

Joanne actually trains competitors and no way would need help with choreography she has taught for years - think you all read too much into it all they were one male celeb down and that's it - no way would they keep her either just to keep kev and karen - Jo has said she is more involved with Friday this week

Oti is not a find she is one of Giliksons BTF girls and was a partner with Keo - Jason is gradually replacing all the pros with BTF people imo not always a good thing cos many of them (ie Karen/Janette) have weak ballroom technique

re Jason and coming back to help Jo with choreography is nonsense on many of the vts last year you could see Jason looking at routines and imo he is responsible for some of the silly themes and faffing at the beginning of some routines

Karen, with Matt Hauer was US mambo champion

I don't think there is anything tragic about Joanne standing there without a celeb partner. She's had an extraordinarily successful dancing career that many people just dream of (more so than any of the other current Strictly professionals) and, as Bendymixer says, still trains competitors. A dancing career doesn't peak with Strictly.

Who knows why she hasn't got a celeb partner this year, but maybe she's just there for a fun evening out, providing support to her brother, whilst still getting paid for it. Doesn't sound a bad deal to me!

I agree and from her standpoint what's not to like about such an easy gig

Teaching and choreographing for competitors where the time restrictions are not as harsh is, I would imagine, quite a different beast to teaching and choreographing for a celeb beginner, especially as each routine has to be choreographed and taught in less than a week whilst your every move is being filmed by a camera crew. I'm in no way questioning Joanne's professional credentials but those don't always translate well to a pressure cooker situation like Strictly.

i am so so pleased she is not dancing this year .... however i saw a bit of ITT and something she said about the friday rehearsals or so? is she going to bring us that on a friday like james used to? no please i cannot hear her voice :O:O:O:O

I bet she gets someone kick-ass for Xmas and CIN and is in all the pro dances.

Or (how's this for a conspiracy pulled out of my butt?) one of the pro girls is SECRETLY PREGNANT and only told the producers AFTER THE CONTRACT WAS SIGNED so Joanne is poised and ready TO TAKE OVER WHEN WARDROBE RUN OUT OF FRINGING and can no longer cover the MYSTERY DANCER'S MATERNAL BOOBS.

I expect it's Ola, there is an "Is Ola secretly pregnant?" thread most years.

It doesn't matter whether Scott was a duffer, there are plenty of partnerships where duffers and professional get on well and do get taught, NAT and Michael Vaughn , Iveta and the man with the bad knees.

I have never seen a celeb more desperate to be voted out. Scott Mills is not custard pie and Disney routines funny, he is sarcastic and witty, gay but not really camp. She didn't understand him one iota and he hated his SCD experience. It could be she negotiated a 2 year contract but no one are the BBC inflicting her on another celeb.

I don't mind her and appreciate the quality of her dancing in group dances but I thought she was awful as a pro last year.

I agree with most of what you say. I have never heard or seen him be sarcastic or witty (on purpose) though. He ruins Eurovision every year.

That's interesting what you say. Is it a coincidence that they sort of handled Anya the same way last year - they didn't give her a celebrity but they kept her around, as an extra choreographer and she also showed up in several group dances? Maybe they now do 2 year contracts? Or could this have anything to do with Aliona's public anger when she was dropped off the roster several years ago and they decided not to do that to anyone again but to give them an extra year as an "extra" to ease them off the show?

When I heard Joanne would be a presenter, I certainly expected to see a lot more of her on ITT - but there was Karen Hardy, on Monday AND Tuesday, and Ian on Wednesday, etc. Joanne likely knows as much as Karen does about dance, being quite the champion, yet she doesn't get to split duties with Karen and/or Ian. Do they really need four pros helping out anyway?

Robin seemed sort of shoe-horned in last year and now there's Joanne as well (and there are always ousted pros to call upon as the series progresses). And I thought her babyish voice and manner was one of the main complaints about her last year - it seems strange to make her a presenter. Oh well, guess we'll see if she's on for Xmas/CIN/tour and if she's back next year.

She probably expected to have a celeb dance partner this year and when that did not happen they at least threw her a bone. Maybe they have a rule, only one Clifton woman in a competition. It was getting overcliftoned

There's no other explanation than a last-minute drop-out, otherwise she wouldn't even have been given a contract. Her ITT slot was announced very late in the day, so it was obviously a rushed contingency when they realised that they would have a surplus female pro, and Jo's made no secret of the fact she wants to do TV and theatre work. The only other one who'd probably have wanted to do that sort of ITT slot instead would have been Janette, and she and Aljaz seem to be pretty popular so I doubt the BBC thought about dropping her.

It is Joanna. But I wonder why.

I'm sorry, but that's completely ridiculous, and frankly a bit rude. Karen's perfectly entitled to take Kevin's name - why on earth would she keep her ex-husband's?! I suspect the only reason she's kept it this long is because it's the surname she used when she did SYTYCD. Karen and Aliona are two completely different people, their choices as to which names they use are entirely up to them. Same with Janette whenever she and Aljaz marry if she's still on the show then - are you going to judge her if she chooses to take his name?

I don't understand how anyone thinks there's anything strange going on - if they didn't want to drop Jo, they wouldn't have hired a new female pro. Clearly they didn't want to drop her and they wanted 16 celebs, but a male celeb dropped out and she was the spare pro when they'd decided who they were pairing or who they thought wouldn't mind taking a demotion to ITT.

She looked like Baby Jane in ITT last week. The Cliftons as a whole are creepy af.