Was there ever a pro dancer in the opening credits without a celeb partner? Why now? Could be they had a last minute cancellation and instead of re-editing the whole thing they plugged the hole with Joanne. Or the House of Clifton gets a special treatment

Rather than struggling for celebs per se it does appear more that they're struggling for sportspeople.

The titles must have been filmed after the Launch Show (ie the pairing up). Since Joanne was not paired up at the Launch (which was also widely reported in the press) this would have been known before there was anything to edit.

It still seems strange to include Joanne though. Why, for example, has Robin never appeared on his 'ownsome' in the title sequence?

Round 8. "10s" plural wasn't until Round 10.

I still think Joanne gets billing because she's the "swing" - ie the pro who will make the ladies up to 8 next year. The plan seems to me set as there being 15 celebs each year, with the majority gender alternating. I don't think it's because someone pulled out, because no way they couldn't find a z lister at a loose end to plug the hole.

I should think that Joanne is on stand by in case a female pro gets injured . With the girls being on the receiving end of lifts and getting hoiked about by amateurs there is more chance of injury I think .So it's only fair she's in the credits .

As for the celebs , I think this year has done rather well . I'd even say the best in years . Pretty much all are recognisable names and there is a nice mix of age groups .
So no , I don't think the show is struggling to find names at all , quite the opposite .
Lovely to see it thrashing XF in the viewing figures . Now THAT is a show past it's sell by date and struggling in my opinion . Comes to something when they are trying to re sign Louis Walsh .

Good point Then she must know people who know people. It makes no sense to put her there just on her own

I like that she's in there...Joanne is awesome!

Each to their own.

I find her highly irritating. Cannot for the life of me understand why her visog is featured at the end of the intro.

I've not seen enough of Joanne to be able to form any sort of opinion whatsoever. Her appearance last series was fairly fleeting and I haven't seen her on anything else, so I can't really say much about her.

Good points jiroos

My apologies oh Strictly guru.
I guess i was ranting about too high scores too soon in the competition and went over the top

Is there such a thing?