If we presume this year's series is 8 male celebrities and 7 female celebrities, then with Aliona, Ola and Kristina all departing there'll be at least four new female pros (unless they promote Joanne back to having a celebrity) - is this a record number of replacements?

Presumably they will be promoting Jo back to having a celebrity, so it'll only be 3 replacements.

Either way it's not the most - there were 5 new pros the year Janette, Aljaz and Kevin joined.

If that's true, a boy's gotta go. Could they finally get rid of Anton or Brendan?

There was supposed to be 16 celebs in the past series one celeb dropped out last minute and that why Joanne ended up without a celeb

Unless something's come up that says otherwise, this was not the case - it was always the intention that there would be 15 celebs with Joanne not partnering anyone.

What about Jasmine, the girl who's currently doing the tour? She was a backing dancer on the last series, did Blackpool etc seems friendly with other pros. I checked her credentials and she is a proper Latin ballroom dancer.

I read somewhere on another social media website that Tristan was said to be moving to Australia because of his wife's connections. Maybe he could be the one to go if they lose any of the male pros?

To be honest though due to their ages I would be quite happy if Anton and Brendan were both replaced with younger dancers (especially in Anton's case where dancing latin routines are concerned).

I took that from what was said at the time by people who know more than me & it isn't that important to be honest however they will probably stick to 16 pros whether they all dance with celeb is to be seen but having 16 pros makes sense for pro numbers and IF they stick to 15 celebs it means they have a spare pro if someone get injured

Though it does rely on a certain gender of pro getting injured. If one of the guys had picked up a knock there would be little point in calling in Joanne.

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The next bit generally ignores The Sun's rumour mill so:

Out of last year's pros those I think Aljaz, Janette, Kevin, Karen, Joanne, Gleb, Giovanni and Pasha are pretty safe. Natalie will be if they can find a tall male celebrity who wants to take part (which I imagine won't be overly difficult). I hope, and think, Oti will get another chance.

So that's ten out of the 16 listed above, with three quitting, which leaves Anton, Brendan and Trsitan. Anton may bow out gracefully now he has a final appearance behind him (as frankly, that's as good as it will get for him). He'll have another role on the show or It Takes Two. I wouldn't mind him joining Ian in Midweek Warm Up, maybe as Ballroom guide with Ian staying as Latin guide?

Brendan may get another year so they don't lose the two 'long termers' in one go. Tristan... has he made enough impact for the producers? Really he's due a ringer if he stays and I think he could be another long termer if given the chance (and he doesn't want to go to Australia as indicated in a previous post). If he does go...

I think the producers may want another 'power couple' to offset the Clifton's - with Kevin, Karen and Joanne on the show there is a risk of it coming across as overpowering. I wonder whether Neil and Ekaterina Jones would be interested in joining? I know Neil performed on the show before and having another couple, maybe easier to get on with than the Jordans, who provide some balance.

This still leaves us down two female pros (if we're back to eight male celebrities next year). I wonder if they'll thank Anya for stepping in for the pro routines when Ola's mouth went AWOL last year but asking her back for another stab at the glitterball? She knows the show and has worked on it over the last couple of years so would be an easy replacement.

As for the final pro... how embedded in Dancing with the Stars is Emma Slater? She's never been given a ringer on the US version of the show so maybe the time is ripe for her to move to her home show? Of course, who would leave the heat of LA for the cold of London in the winter? Er, except Tristan.

So my uneducated early guess for pros this year:
Aljaz, Brendan, Giovanni, Gleb, Kevin, Neil, Pasha (Tristan if eighth required)
Anya, Ekaterina, Emma, Janette, Joanne, Karen, Natalie, Oti

I'm sure I'll be miles out.

It was mentioned last year that Gleb doesn't like to be tied down too long (he's done just one series of two or three different international versions).

Gleb was demoted to the "troupe" after his one lacklustre series on DWTS-US, and he didn't like it (the demotion). The next series, he wasn't with a celeb or in the troupe - I don't know if that was his choice or not, but in any case, I think he would have been happy to stay on the American show if it hadn't gone badly for him.

With the Russian show, it appears he considers moving to Strictly a step up (I think) - maybe the dates of the two series are such that Gleb could appear on both the Russian and British shows.

As for the Aussie version, his first outing, he was the first one booted out. Though I don't know if they let him go or not, but moving to America would have been a step-up in that situation as well.

I feel very strongly that Gleb is delighted with his Strictly experience and won't be going anywhere, of his own accord.

He did hint on afterbuzz that he wanted to be on dwts again for season 22 and i thought he saw strictly as a way to get back on dwts but that was before he had been on strictly so he might think differently now.

Yeah, in their dreams!

(The presence of her name on the list is so incongruous. She is in a totally different league as a dancer, as well as being absolutely beautiful by way of a bonus!)

While Emma hasn't ever been given the best of partners I think she actually is pretty embedded in DWTS. Her boyfriend (? it seems) is in the troupe on the show, her twin sister just moved from England out to America to live with her and again, while she hasn't had the best of partners she seems to be really well liked over there. I'd love her to move over here though as well.

I would like to see Jasmine from the tour join the show though and have Anya back. If we couldn't have any of them I'd love to see Sharna from DWTS join the show as well, but she's also pretty popular over there.

That was my impression too--that he left DWTS altogether because he had bigger ambitions than being in troupe. I wonder if after having had such success (relative to what he had in the US/Australia) whether he'd choose Strictly over DWTS. What happened with Artem should perhaps serve as a cautionary tale.

In any case I doubt he'd actually get invited back to DWTS unless there were a major shake-up in the male pros there.

Well there is rumoured to be 4 pro slots available on dwts not sure who isn't coming back. If I were to guess I would say that Karina and Anna as i dont think they were permanent returns as for as I know, Lindsay has probably taken Allison's slot with Peta also returning not sure about Artem after last season mess so that leaves 2/3 pro places.

Whether Keo will be back after being the first male pro to leave 3 times in a row or whether Derek will be back or if he will finally decide he has done all he can with dwts reminds to be seen.

Also there is an interview with Julianne were she hints that she might be leaving as a judge but nothing had been confirmed. DWTS needs Len more than strictly.

I agree with littlepoppy about Emma, she is back with Sasha and seems very settled so I can't see her leaving the only way i could see it happening is if there is a pro position for Sasha, I like Sharna and before last season she would have been my pick of dwts pros that could be on scd but i didnt think she did a great job with Nick who should have done better imo.

I can't imagine Val, Derek or Mark leaving, even if they're fed up with it. None of them are likely to get a similarly well-paying and high profile job elsewhere; Derek even continued when he was appearing in a show in NYC.

In any case, I've sworn off DWTS--I didn't like the last series at all and then discovered Strictly, which I much prefer.

Yulia would be great.