I liked that. Thank you.

Yeah I don't think age is anything to go by - however the fact there are 17 pros probably indicates that 2 (or more) probably aren't competing with a celeb.

Unless there are 19 couples and they split up the men/ women again and do some double eliminations

Really glad that Neil has finally been confirmed. Wonder why it's taken so long to annouce him? He replied to a tweet of mine on Twitter during the last series, but I didn't realise who he was at the time. He's often quite vocal about the judges decissions and marking, I can see him being a real thorn in their sides.

Doesn't Chloe look like a young version of Tracy Barlow from Corrie

Age doesn't always confer wisdom- qv the Jordans.

Are Gorka Marquez and Oksana Platero married? Have they been on the show already?

Oksana is married and Gorka got engaged a few weeks ago I heard

Gorka is from BTF and recently got engaged to Lauren Sheriden from Scotland, Oksana Dmytrenkohas appeared on DWTS and SYTYCD and has married a dancer from that show
Jonathan Platero

None of them were 20 or 21 at the time though, which was kind of my point.

So it's 5 new pros not 3?

6 new pros in total but still feel AJ and chloe are for the pro dances rather than a celeb leaving 15 couples for the show

What does it matter how old they are? Louisa Lytton was 17 when she competed on the show as a celeb. It is a bit of an ageist comment.

teaching experience is the factor - as they are active competitors and their age I reckon they will not have much experience in teaching (I may be wrong) but still feel they are for pro dances

Why ever not? On that reasoning you would have to employ professional dancers who are in their 70s to partner the older celebs.

Edit - I mis-read your post

Love AJ and Chloe, love their dancing. Quite surprised they are turning Pro so early, so very young . Great dancers.

TBH I would rather Neil and Katya had concentrated on their competitive career instead of joining scd which takes so much of their time, as they have so much more to give competitively.

AJ & Chloe - I didn't realise they had turned professional, I thought they were still amateur (BENDY - you will know????)

If they have recently turned pro, I feel that, given their age, even though AJ especially comes from a dance background, they may have had very little experience in teaching, so perhaps a couple of seasons as part of the pro routines would be beneficial.

I didn't know they had turned pro either but as you say a few seasons as part of the pro dances will also enable them to keep competing too? still hoping Neil and Kat keep comping as well

How different is teaching a celeb for Strictly compared to a lay dancer? I am asking in terms of technique. Surely the technical level of lets say a 36-40 scoring dance is vastly lower than a dance for competition. I am sure if Chloe and AJ partnered a celeb (probably not happening) then sure they have learnt enough to pass knowlege on.

I am Facebook friends with them and follow them on twitter and if they announced it, I have missed it.

I also would have prefered the Jones to have stayed competitors but as you know SCD can open many doors, and when you have been competing for years and years, perhaps they want to see what other opportunities come their way. Keeping their options open.

It is not their dance experience in question just teaching experience, as AJ and Chloe were dancing in the amateur ranks and their young age would imagine their experience will be limited - it is vastly different competing to teaching and in the quick turn around atmosphere of strictly (different dance every week) then teaching experience is essential.

So there are 17 couples in the show!

Thats good! An extra two weeks

It will be 15. The two AJ and Chloe will dance in big pro dances when Anton can't be bothered to do them.

I'm just saying it will look a bit imbalanced to have a 60 year old dancing with a 20 year old.

Isn't Anton .... <wanders off, whistling>

Ola was 27, Paul Daniels was 72

not really sure what point you are trying to make to be honest but hey ho