....which could feature ANY of Strictly's contestants over the years, who would you put in your line-up?

For the interests of balance 8 girls and 8 guys please....

Mine:

Denise Lewis
Jill Halfpenny
Kelly Brook
Alesha Dixon
Kara Tointon
Chelsee Healey
Natalie Guemede
Pixie Lott

Colin Jackson
Mark Ramprakash
Austin Healey
Tom Chambers
Ricky Whittle
Scott Maslen
Matt Baker
Harry Judd

Anne Widecombe would be right up there for the girls

Suspended a few metres above the floor?

On the roof would be fine by me.

I'd still *know* she was there though

Ladies

Zoe Ball
Jill Halfpenny
Chelsee Healy
Denise Lewis
Louisa Lytton
Jodie Kidd
Abbey Clancy
Sophie Ellis Bextor

Men

Harry Judd
Matt Baker
Aled Jones
Darren Gough
Jay McGuiness
Julian Clarey
Fabrice Muamba
Ricky Whittle

Only started watching half way through series 5, so:

Kara
Alesha
Kelly Brook
Pixie
Natalie
Holly
Helen
Katie

Austin
Matt Baker
Scott Maslen
Gavin (must be paired with Katya)
Harry
Ricky
Louis
Jay

Second part of the question - using current pros, who would you pair them with? Only rule is you cannot pair them with who they've partnered before.

Mine are revised above

Denise Lewis & Brendan Cole
Alesha Dixon & Anton du Beke
Jade Johnson & Aljaz Skorjanec
Pamela Stephenson & Kevin Clifton
Holly Valance & Tristan MacManus
Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Giovanni Pernice
Natalie Gumede & Gleb Savchenko
Pixie Lott & Pasha Kovalev

Julian Clary & Kristina Rihanoff
Colin Jackson & Joanne Clifton
Gethin Jones & Ola Jordan
Austin Healey & Oti Mabuse
Scott Maslen & Aliona Vilani
Harry Judd & Natalie Lowe
Michael Vaughan & Karen Clifton
Mark Benton & Janette Manrara

Abbey Clancy (Winner of Series 11) & Brendan Cole
Chelsee Healey (Runner up of Series 9) & Kevin Clifton
Jade Johnson (Contestant of Series 7) & Aljaz Skorjanec
Jill Halfpenny (Winner of Series 2) & Anton du Beke
Kara Tointon (Winner of Series 8) & Gleb Savchenko
Kelly Brook (Contestant of Series 5) & Pasha Kovalev
Natalie Gumede (Runner up of Series 11) & Tristan MacManus
Rachel Stevens (Runner up of Series 6) & Giovanni Pernice

Austin Healey (Quarter Finalist of Series 6) & Karen Clifton
Chris Hollins (Winner of Series 7) & Joanne Clifton
Gethin Jones (Semi Finalist of Series 5) & Natalie Lowe
Harry Judd (Winner of Series 9) & Oti Mabuse
John Sergeant (Contest of Series 6) & Ola Jordan
Louis Smith (Winner of Series 10) & Janette Manrara
Mark Ramprakash (Winner of Series 4) & Kristina Rihanoff
Simon Webbe (Runner up of Series 12) & Aliona Vilani

Alesha Dixon & Matthew Cutler
Chelsee Healey & Pasha Kovalev
Denise Lewis & Ian Waite
Kara Tointon & Artem Chigvintsev
Kelly Brook & Brendan Cole
Nancy Dell'Olio & Anton du Beke
Natalie Gumede & Trent Whiddon
Dr Hamela Stephenson & James Jordan

Austin Healey & Erin Boag
Colin Jackson & Kristina Rihanoff
Gavin Henson & Katya Virshilas
Harry Judd & Aliona Vilani
Julian Clary & Iveta Lukosiute
Mark Ramprakash & Karen Hardy
Matt Di Angelo & Flavia Cacace
Scott Maslen & Natalie Lowe

Gaby Logan
Jill Halfpenny
Abbey Clancey
Lisa Snowden
Kelly Brook
Rachel Stevens
Pixie Lot
Louisa Lytton

Harry Judd
Matt Baker
Austin Healey
Gethin Jones
Mark Ramprakash
Simon Webbe
Darren Gough
Michael Vaughan

Jill Halfpenny
Zoe Ball
Alesha Dixon
Rachel Stevens
Kara Tointon
Holly Valance
Denise van Outen
Natalie Guemede

Colin Jackson
Mark Ramprakash
Matt Di Angelo
Tom Chambers
Ricky Whittle
Matt Baker
Jake Wood
Jeremy Vine

Male
Louis Smith
Jay McGuiness
Mark Ramprakrash
Harry Judd
Gethin Jones
Simon Webbe
Michael Vaughan
Austin Healey

Female
Caroline Flack
Natalie Gumede
Frankie Bridge
Rachel Stevens
Pixie Lott
Kara Tointon
Anita Rani
Alesha Dixon

Male

Jay McGuiness Flavia Cacace
Michael Vaughan Erin Boag
Louis Smith Aliona Vilani
Mark Rampakash Camilla Dallerup
Jason Donavon Lilia Kopalov
Scott Maslen Kristina Rihanoff
Mark Benton Iveta Lukasiuta
Jeremy Vine Natalie Lowe

Female

Natalie Gumede Brendon Cole
Kara Tointon Matthew Cutler
Jill Halfpenny Pasha Kovelov
Pixie Lott Trent Whiddon
Rachel Stevens Darren Bennett
Louisa Lytton Brian Fortuna
Ali Bastian Ian waite
Chelsee Heeley Vincent Simone

Louisa Lytton
Rachel Stevens
Chelsee Healey
Kimberley Walsh
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Judy Murray
Pixie Lott
Carol Kirkwood

Julian Clary
Mark Ramprakash
Gethin Jones
John Sergeant
Chris Hollins
Harry Judd
Jake Wood
Jay McGuinness

A mix of good and bad, old and new.

I'd forgotten about Louisa Lytton, she certainly deserves another opportunity.

Kara, Rachel, Alesha

Mark R, Harry and Matt Baker

Would make it worthwhile. <3

Indeed it would be pretty ridiculous having an all time greats competion without Rachel and Kara - who probably are the all time best two.

And you would have a problem with the show including the top dancers who didn't win - like Ali and Zoe - and excluding some of the people who won on anything but merit. It should include the best competitors to be meaningful. There's not much point in rewatching people who can't dance well, not dancing well. You may as well watch a video of ealier series.

The show wouldn't work though. A show of big characters would just be rerun of the known - where we knew who should win on merit on day one. A show with only people who could dance well , would have no story, or journey, or difficulties to master. the lowest mark would probably be 32, and there woudl logically be lots of 10s in week one. . And, with only really good people there , who went would depend on fanbase, male sex appeal, and silly ideas that took hold . You would, by definition, lose top dancers - who might otherwise win - early on - just because the vote would be split so many ways. A competition that just produced a random result, wouldn't tell you anything.

Why would you want it to tell you anything? The actual series often doesn't.

We watch for many reasons - to enjoy good dancing and ridicule but be entertained by bad dancing. To celebrate the chemistry that often springs up in the most unexpected of places and marvel at seemingly wonderful partnerships that provoke no stirring of the mind, heart and loins whatsoever. Yes, we sometimes watch for the phwooar factor but equally, we can find ourselves captivated by someone for whom we have no physical or intellectual yearning at all. What I have never, ever expected of this show or certainly never since Chris Parker reached the final over Lesley Garrett in series 1 is for it to tell me something.

You say the show wouldn't work. Well really you could only claim that for a TV show if it didn't attract viewers. And I reckon this would.

I don't remember her Nina, was she good

Her second dance, her Jive, got 36, with an 8 from Craig and a 10 from Bruno. She was hampered, however, by Vincent, who I believe (???) was in his first year as pro, and so gave her routines 10x too difficult for her to master in just a week.

If she came back and had Pasha/Gleb she'd walk every season, she was fantastic.

Caroline Flack...........Brendan
Zoe Ball..........Aljaz
Kara Tointon........Kevin from Grimsby
Natalie Gumede........Pasha
Pixie Lott........Anton
Sophie Ellis Bextor........Giovani
Lesley Garrett......Tristan
Kelly Brook........Gleb

Gethin Jones.......Joanne C
Harry Judd.......Kristina
Mark Ramprakash........Janette
Colin Jackson.......Aliona
Jay McGuiness.....Oti
Matt Baker.......Natalie
Austin Healey.......Karen
Simon Webb......Ola

There are more, could easily make another list

But I could do another list for both genders that I would really not like to see again

I like your list Mrs Mop!

I would certainly want Geth and Jay in there. I wouldn't know who to support though. Gethin was always my favourite but this year Jay has taken over. I am still a Geth's Girl! (although "Girl" is stretching it a bit).

I think the only ones who might actually be better second time around are people like Louisa Lytton and Matt Di Angelo who were young the first time and could benefit from maturity. Pretty much everyone else would probably have gotten worse over time and wouldn't be as good with different partners, so it could all end up just being a bit sad and tarnishing the memory of what made them so good originally. I also don't want to see my favourite contestants like Kara or Rachel Stevens having to do cheesy 'comedy' VTs or dance with ridiculous props - maybe they could strip it back to just proper dancing if all the contestants started at a high level.