I've been trying since 8 a.m and no luck. At least I know I'm not the only one having trouble!

we all are, I havent heard from anyone who has had any luck yet

Oh lordy! Let's hope we're spared the torture of watching her dance to a Spice Girls "classic"!........

It's up!!!

read it all here http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre...r/13/scd.shtml

Yay!! Some of them I am really pleased about, others I dont' really know, but I'll love it all the same

Emma Bunton (ex Spice Girl) - Darren Bennett
Georgina Bouzova (Ellen in Casualty) - James Jordan
Claire King (Emmerdale / Bad Girls) – Brendan Cole
Louisa Lytton (Ruby in Eastenders) – Vincent Simone
Mica Paris (Singer / What not to wear) – Ian Waite
Jan Ravens (Dead Ringers) – Anton Du Beck
Carol Smillie (TV presenter) – Matthew Cutler

Matt Dawson (Rugby player) – Lilia Kopylova
Ray Fearon (Nathan in Coronation Street) – Camilla Dallerup
Nicholas Owen (newsreader) – Nicole Cutler
Mark Ramprakash (cricketer) – Karen Hardy
Peter Schmeichel (Man U Goalkeeper) – Erin Boag
Spoony (Radio 5 Live DJ) - Aleksandra ‘Ola’ Jordan
Jimmy Tarbuck (comedian) – Flavia Cacace

Phew, no Caprice.

I have to say I am pleased with the celebrities, I just wish that Anton could have had a young women this time, oh and Darren got the best one again!!!! I like him but it isn't fair. Huff

I think it's a great line-up.

Emma Bunton may not turn out to be the best one. I don't remember the Spice Girls' dance routines being anything special. I have high hopes for all 7 ( but then I expected Fiona to be good !!)

I think the best pairing is Matt Dawson and Lilia. I'm grinning already.

So much for the rumours - they were all wrong. But Matt Dawson is a good replacement for Ally McCoist, and I can live without Andrew Ridgley and Caprice!

Jan Ravens is 48 not exactly ancient - he had Patsy Palmer last year who is 34, Emma Bunton is 30 so is Georgina Bouzova, Claire King is 43, Mica Paris 39, Carol Smillie 44 the youngest is Louisa Lytton who is 17 which I don't think would be a good match for Anton, Lesley Garrett is 51 now so she would of been a similar age to Jan Ravens & Esther is/was in her 60's

yeh and leslie wasn't that hot! They just got on really well and she tried very very hard, her enthusiasum was infectious.
I am not saying that Jan Ravens is old, anyway she is brilliant for her age, but I would simply have liked him to have had a chance of an able partner. Well I may be proved wrong and Jan may be amazing, I am sure Anton could make anyone do Ballroom well, I just think the Latin will be even worse if his partner isn't blithe, he after all is a little awkward with it himself.

Yeah -I have decided that I wont complain about any of the celebs -no one knows if Emma will be any good -its just that she is very famous. After Gloria, Darren deserved someone younger.
Teresa -prob they could have swapped brendan and antons partner but Claire King cant be that much younger than Jan.


Ian seems to do alright every year so far and Brendans partner will prob be good too.

I just hope no one gets slagged off like Zoe did last year if they happen to be 'too good'.
That was very frustrating -I personally didnt like her personality but the backlash against her was scary at times -lets all keep it nicey nicey this time!

Cool sounds good agin this year then

Those of you who complain about some of the pros getting the better (or thought to be better) celebrities need to remember that height comes into the equation when choosing partners. Ian has to have a tall partner and Darren a short one otherwise they would look ridiculous.

Precisely! And they probably take other things into account -like Darren has had an Eastender so they cant give him another one!
Other ladies were prob all too tall -awwww!

I think these two will be fun to watch, Bad Girl Meets Bad Boy, I bet she wont let him shout @ her the way Fiona did, I hope they get on!!!

Surely someone can agree that Lillia has been lucky for the third time, Aled, Darren and now Matt Dawson. I think it should have been her turn for an Oldie, maybe Jimmy Tarbuck.

Nicole should have had a sportsman this time instead of Nicholas Owen, I think Erin should have had an older celebrity too as all hers have been young, two of them very able dancers.

Please tell me if I am the only one who sees it this way?

I know the dancers have no say over their choice of partner so it has nothing to do with them personally but even so I think there could have been some changes which would have made things a little fairer.
I would have liked to have seen Lilia and Flavia's partners swapped round. Lilia won last year so could be partnered with someone a little more "challenging" and not lose face. Flavia is a new dancer to the show and wont really get a chance for people to get to know her.
After Darran won series 2 he got a more challenging and less likely to win partner in Gloria and I just think it would have been fairer if Lilia had got Jimmy Tarbuck - she loves to giggle so they'd have made a right pair! Flavia is shy and being Italian is struggling a little to even understand him sometimes!
Everyone has personal reasons for wanting their favourite dancers to get the best possible chance and so all we can do now is hope they make the best of what they've been given!!

No I totally agree, its getting very boring seeing the same people in the final or int the top5 all the time. I have a feeling it might not be the same this year though.

Lesley was fantastic. Did you actually watch all of the first series? In actual fact she was far more flexible than Patsy turned out to be.

Anton got a young partner last time, and on paper most people would have imagined Patsy to be very good. To be fair she wasn't totally abysmal, they did stay in a good while. You just never can tell in these things.

I do agree about his latin though. Got a feeling that Anton and Jan may stay in on personality.

Yea teresa, Lilia has had good partners -although Lilia is my fave female pro I do think that her and Flavias partners should have been swapped round.Then again, what height is Flavia? Maybe too tall for Matt? Dunno!
All of the seven females could be (like you say) good -but someone always surprises us -like Fiona!

Flavia is very very tiny she can't be much more than 5ft if not a little less!

She is gorgeous though, isnt she?
I think she has got to be the most beautiful pro dancer. Are her and Vincent married?
I think that, even though Jimmy may not be that good, that they will definitely be in it for a while, due to the entertainment factor!

She's the most beautiful girl I think I've ever met - though she truly believes she's ugly. She has amazing clothes and always looks perfect. Her and Vincent aren't married, I think he's a little too "Italian"!!! for any commitment yet, they've been together for about 8 years though so its pretty serious!
I'm hoping the entertainment factor will keep them in, and you never know Jimmy might have unexpected natural talent!

Flavia looks lovely in the picture. She doesn't look small next to Jimmy Tarbuck so maybe Jimmy is not very tall? He is an entertainer so could stay for a bit even if he's not such a good dancer.

She is right on the tips of her toes. Though I don't think he can be that tall. My partner and I are 5'8'' and we can easily run her down doing ballroom because we just can't see her if she's behind one of us.

Tarby is well loved by a certain generation - he will do better than people expect! Cant believe Flavia thinks she is unattractive - be -yootiful!
On another thread Teresa has suggested different partnerships with the same celebs -they actually look much better than the ones we have!
I love Darren Bennett but I would have thought that Emma Bunton would be given to one of the less known dancers - not because of any 'supposed' dancing talent -but just cos she is very famous!
Then again, the only other female who looks short enough to be Darrens partner is Louisa - another Eastender and people would be complaining about that wouldnt they?