Love your comment about Oti ripping it up

Katya's a gem. I liked her from the start and loved her by the end. Ed's exit means not seeing her too and her fabulous choreography. I don't want to see her with a Danny next year, rather an Ore. Someone who has bags of potential but who is not predictable. I find the Dannys boring even though I quite like him.

You are right Maggie.........but I'd love to see her partner also show Katya show what she is capable of without comments coming in that she is dancing it up to hide her partners inadequacies.

And I hate good dancers coming onto Strictly, but watching Katya really makes me happy - and in the VTs she used to make me LOL with her corrections of Ed.....very strict and almost regimental. Particularly liked her correction of his pronunciation of Salsa......now if she is that particular she will fly with a good partner!!

I think Tristan was a good teacher but got tired of all the 'showbiz' stuff surrounding Strictly. Also his wife is based in Australia so cannot be easy! I miss Tristan because i liked his carefree attitude especially on ITT, I hate the in your face Pros who love the limelight.

all the pros except little AJ will be back, and the spare will be the Clifton wig no.2 , of course

Of the new pros, I definitely want to see Katya back next year with a celeb partner. She was brilliant with Ed and her excellent teaching ability and choreography got them a lot further in the competition than most people expected at the start of the series.

Her routines were not only fun, but she put a lot of dancing content and technique into it, when other pros might have gone solely down the comedy route with a less able celeb. I like the way she didn't complain and just got on with doing the best she could with the celeb she was given.

I would like to see Neil and Chloe given celeb partners next year. I think the other new (celeb-partnered) pros, Oksana, AJ and Gorka should be given a second season on the show.

AJ has not been given enough credit. He and Claudia are still in the competition and one step away from the semi-finals in his first season! Not only that, but he has had to deal with the issue of having a celeb who is quite a lot shorter than him, which can't be easy, especially being a new pro.

Brendan seems to have lost interest and hasn't applied himself for a few years now. Though, maybe, he's fed up with all the changes to Strictly over the years with the pros now having less say in the music choices and themes (Tristan alluded to that when he left).

I have loved Oti's teaching and choreography, so I definitely want to see her back.

I have been disappointed with Pasha, Natalie, Giovanni and to some extent Aljaz this year. I usually like all four, but I've just found them a bit boring this year. Pasha has faded into the background (as has Giovanni) and I didn't like his attitude this year. Regardless of which celeb you get, you have to make the best of it.

I was surprised that Greg didn't seem to improve much with Natalie. Regarding Aljaz, he seems to re-use quite a lot of the same choreography each year, which is getting a bit boring. I'd like to see him create some more exciting choreography (and improve more with his Latin routines).

Anton is useful for the older celebs (and he is one of the taller male pros) so I don't mind seeing him back. He and Lesley performed better than I expected this year.

I'm not sure about the Cliftons. Though, Joanne has created some pretty good choreography this year with Ore, especially her ballroom. Kevin is a good teacher (though rather OTT). I don't think I would miss Karen if she left.

I would prefer not have Janette paired with a celeb next year. She's been on the show for four series' now, but her celebs don't seem to improve and her choreography (and ballroom) could be better. Perhaps, she should sit next year out and feature on ITT (like Joanne did last year).

Finally, I would like to see more pro dancers coming from the competition circuit. Champions of their respective countries, European, Latin American and World dance champions rather than so many BTF alumni.

For me I would certainly like to see Aljaz, Oksana, Katya, Brendan & Oti back next year. I also would like to see Neil have a partner.

Pasha this year unfortunately for me has blended into the background. I'm almost forgot he is a pro.

I wouldn't miss Janette, Giovanni & AJ if they were to go. Not sure on my thoughts on Gorka as I haven't seen enough of him.

The only two professionals I would let go are Giovanni and Janette. Giovanni is not as good as he thinks he is and it really did irritate me this year. Felt for Laura who I think would have enjoyed it more with a different professional. Janette is weak in terms of developing her celebrities. BBC wish to keep Aljaz is I suspect keeping her place in the show so far.

I know that Giovanni had a tough year but I would keep him on Firstly he had a good year last year, and second he did not gel with Laura for whatever reason. Also she got injured and maybe was not talented enough to get very far. I think also he puts Strictly on the Front Pages, I think he has made a few errors on and off the dance floor but other pro's have as well so he's not alone.

Some of it wasn't his fault but he does seem to be pretty arrogant to me.

Yeah I would say he has an ego for sure. But I think you need different personalities among the pro's.

I think that's just the whole Italian Stallion thing but yes he may be.

I doubt Laura was that easy to work with, they argued apparently and she very publicly deleted him off social media knowing fine well it would hit the press. Bit hysterical.

Not a lot of 'seem' in it. He is arrogant.

I tend to agree with you. Not keen on Neil at all and I really would like all the Cliftons to go - I do think Jo is a gifted choreographer. I'd like Brendan or Anton to replace Len and have Chloe and Neil do choreography corner and let the producers dispense with Karen Hardy who really is beginning to annoy me.

I imagine there won't be many changes unless it's Anton or Brendan stepping down

I think the new dancers have all done well, the new dancers that are vulnerable are the ones who go out early, without their celebrity performing a memorable dance. So with AJ still in, Oksana doing very well to get Rinder into 5th and Katya working wonders to get Ed Balls into the last 6, all are certs to come back. Gorka went out early, but had that bonus week with Anastasia when he did well.

I think AJ ticks boxes that the other male dancers don't, the show thrives on a variety of ages, heights and personalities

1. The production team did not give Laura dances that played to her strengths. It was obvious in week 2 that slow ballroom dances was what she was elegant and good at. showing emotion. She and Gio had great chemistry which is another reason why the tabloids were so interested in them. Laura was not given another slow ballroom or alowed to do dances like the rumba and AT. Tall girls are not as well suited for samba/salsa as small girls yet she had to do both close together. Other celebs got dances they were better suited to them.

2 Gio's biggest mistake was to put his private life on social media allowing the. Tabloids to make him news. Next time round if he has any sense he keep his private life private.

3 A lot of people who read tabloids or those who spend a lot of time on social media felt angry with Giovanni so that would not help him win votes.

4 Laura could not do the tour. With the exception of Claudia all the celebs that stayed in longer than she did are available for the tour. Claudia is back in training for her gymnastic competitions so I doubt if she will be on the tour. Just thought I would add that thought to the mix.

5 I take it the biggest reason that makes you think Laura and Gio didn't gel was the whole social media issue. I believe that proper grown up relationships whether they are professional or personal don't happen via social media. What is in social media is what people want to put out there and do not always reflect the true story. If something is said in social media often enough people believe it to be true when most of the time it is just someone's opinion.

6 I do agree Gio should return. I don't agree he should be there because he has made headlines. He has learned a lot this year about how delightful the British Press are. That should help him handle things in a more mature way in the future. I think he has more than headlines to offer Strictly. Strictly needs many different personalities and different styles of dancing. I just wish they would show off his real strengths in dancing.

I'd feel really bad for Gorka if he didn't get another chance. I know it's silly, but after what happened to him in Blackpool, I would feel terrible if he got kicked off the show. (Having said that, I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to come back to Strictly if it meant going back to Blackpool.)

Pros who may leave
Anton--well it's time I think
Karen--has mentioned having a family next year.
Joanne--moving on to singing/acting/treading the boards.??
Pros staying
Natalie--she said she had a two year contract at the start of this year.
Pros probably returning imo
Brendan--to be the longest serving pro
Pasha--it works in with his tours
Aljaz
Janette
Kevin--down to the one and only original Clifton folks
Pros I'd like to return
Gorka--with a ringah. Please
Katya--was fabulous with Ed and I'd love to see more
Oksana--same reason as Katya( but with JR)
AJ--some good choreography for his first year
Chloe--with a partner
Neil--with a partner

So that's Neil to replace Anton and Chloe to replace Karen with just one new female to replace Joanne.

No other backing dancers are needed thankyou very much😂

PS I think I've remembered all of them.

Queen Oti.
Her profile has gone through the roof this series though with her genius choreography so she may get better offers elsewhere.

Top post.

Tbf though there are only three slow ballroom dances (Waltz, VW, Foxtrot). So if her strength is only shown in 3 of 14 dances then she doesn't stand a chance and nor should she.

As for the pros - I wouldn't miss Giovanni who still feels like a poor man's Vincent. I'd be happy to see him replaced with Neil properly for next year. Not been impressed with AJ either.

I thought someone posted that the pros had now signed a 2 year contract which means AJ will certainly be back!

I did not suggest the slow ballroom dances were the only dances Laura would be good at. The only ones I suggested that is really difficult for tall girls was samba and salsa which leaves 12 dances by my calculation. I disagree re Giovanni. While Vincent and Flavia were great dancers I never warmed to Vincent at all. He didn't come over as very genuine. He just didn't appeal to me. I certainly don't think Neil should play any bigger a role in Strictly which is why we need a variety of personalities and styles of dancing so that everyone finds pros they like and want to watch.

While I don't want to take away anything from Oti as I think she is a great addition to the show it is easier to create great choreography for someone who can dance really well. It is more challenging to produce wow routines with non dancers.

I don't think samba is particularly hard for tall women - two of the best ones were Zoe Ball's and Denise Lewis'. Laura just wasn't very good at latin, so wouldn't have progressed much further in the competition anyway.

Gorka has proved really popular though, despite leaving the competition early. I reckon he'll be back for sure.