Wow- tiny bit of a shock, but GLAD its over. Roll on Strictly. This almost killed my enthusiam

Well, theres a big stink because she approached them last season and the producers said no, it wouldn't be fair to the other contestants with your extensive dance background.
But they accepted her this season, probably to pull in the Disney younger viewers, as the Cheetah girls has a huge following. Its not on really, its a shame as Mark Ballas is really good. As Juliannes ex partner, he is also serious competition

by the DS news at the top of the page it looks like SCD is going down the same route as Dancing with the Stars

two seperate nights of programmes

one for the dancing and one for the results

this may be the start of a long slide downwards for SCD

TBH - I can't be bothered with the SCD results show at all. Most likely won't watch it. I can't even work up any enthusiasm for the main show this year. Decidedly unimpressed with the celebs - no male totty

Kenny Logan is a bit of alright.

Aw bigtoe, don't be like that. Not fancying Gethin or....that Matt fella, or...any of the pros....?

I hope we'll all enjoy it once it gets going.

No and No......TBH ....I'll probably watch Gabby as I'm a footie fan and Brendan with Kelly, purely to see him squirm and struggle with his barely contained attraction to her. That should keep me amused.

I like Sabrina

And Albert is HOT

I have to agree the US version is far too long. Three hours!!. I know they split it over two or three days over there, but still it's too much!!. I only watched the results show, and even that feels overlong. At least when BBC1 showed it they cut out some of the guff!! Hope the BBC don't follow the format!

Also are Len and Bruno going to be judges on the UK one as well??

yes they are - get ready for the same grumpiness from Len as last year

From a selfish point of view, this is music to my ears. I thought long and hard about buying UKTVGold, just to get DWTS, but sadly decided it was too expensive. Now perhaps I'm glad I didn't.

I spent a blissful half hour yesterday watching all the dances on Raphael's site, and that was perfect.

I actually quite liked it but then again I'm boring and needed something to entertain me ...

But I don't think I like Sabrina, she is very good, but she's a hip-hop dancer which you can kinda merge with the Latin dances and refine it (like she did with the Cha, cha) and I don't think its fair on the other celebs... Well I should re-phrase that, I don't like the idea of her being on the show as to her, herself she actually seemed quite nice...

I had to watch - I could not help myself . I've been on an intensive course all week with lots of homework; so no TV or digital spy for five whole days . Last night I slobbed out with a bottle of wine, a take-away & watched DWTS all eve while hubby was happy playing his new Halo 360 game .
I thought the standard of dancing was really good & agreed with most of the judges scores. I quite liked the stand-in presenter (except for his sycophantic gushing over the billionaire). There is more razamataz than SCD but it's a nice contrast imo. With this sort of show I'm not knowledgeable about dancing just love watching it, so I'm easily pleased.
On first impressions found the Cheetah girl smug & over-confident (after reading this thread I know why). Marie was too OTT for my taste but I expect it's just ingrained in her now & she can't help herself. Albert - wow. He could be good as he is gorgeous, has natural rhythm & no fear (only noticed the sloppy foot-work 2nd time around as too busy gazing at his beauty the 1st time ). Mel was much better than I expected, (I'm beginning to think Maks is a one trick pony with his choreography tho), Jane was elegant & smooth - I expected her to be with her dance background quite frankly.
My fave was the racing driver Helio, as Carrie Ann said he's a natural, (it would have been Sabrina/Cheetah but she fell off my admiration pedestal when I found out she's been a dance instructor!). The worst was Wayne, really stiff & clompy also his face scares me. No one else stood out for me to comment so far but I expect things will change.

I sat down last night to enjoy the DWtS marathon.

I've got to say, the ad breaks drove me crazy and they seem to stretch out everything until the viewers are barely conscious. Next week I think I'll Sky+ it so I can fast forward the adverts.

I really enjoyed the actual dancing. The opening pro-dance was fantastic. Someone said they recognised some of Derek's choreography from Dance X (when they did that song) and I definitely saw that too. Really fantastic.

I couldn't stand the Cheetah girl. She was OTT and generally annoying. And you could tell she's had a dance training. Too much to have been allowed on the show in my opinion. And now I read on here that she's been a dance instructor?! I can understand why some of the celebs aren't happy. There's also no point in the show if they're going to have someone who can already do it all. As a viewer I want to see progression and improvement each week.

Anyway, rant over. I thought Mel B was brilliant and will be very funny, particularly in the training footage. I loved Helios and Julianne, I think her choreography is wonderful. I also like the addition of Derek, I hope he can do a lot of work with his partner to help her improve. Jane brought a touch of elegance and class, I can't believe she's 56! The boxer bloke was quite full of himself, I hope he doesn't last for too long. Sad to see Kym nearly go out, I like her!

Still not sure about all their ballroom being 'smooth'. I'll get used to it, but at least SCD starts soon.

The answer to not getting bored is to record it and then watch the sections that interest you.

That's what we do with this show and SCD. It cuts out all the uninteresting and boring bits and makes the whole programme much tighter and enjoyable.

Thats probably the best thing I have ever read on this forum for the past few years!

I really enjoy DWTS but I agree that Sabrina is clearly trained and probably shouldnt be there. She knocks Jill Halfpenny right outta the water and thats saying something!

Mel B didnt irritate me as much as I thought she would and Jane Seymour -56! My god! I know im probably a weirdo but I though Wayne (cheryls partner) was so sweet! He cant cut it with the rest of the guys but at least DWTS lets the viewers make their own minds up about who should stay and who should go!

It's probably the only reason they've had her on for 5 seasons

I missed the results show, who went?

I'm sure someone can supply her name, I can't remember it I'm afraid, but it was the very slim model with the pretty face.

Josie Maran - model and ex girlfriend of freaky magician, David Blaine if my mind is recalling dull trivia correctly.

Cheers! I wondered who the dickens she was!

I really dislike the results show on DWTS - it takes HOW long to say who is in the bottom 2. It's like... let's save one couple, then have 3 songs... then save another couple... then have another 3 songs! Drag it out why don't you?! I really hope the BBC don't do that. Just get on with it and put us out of our misery (though do keep the pro dances in - I lvoe those!)

Ah, I spotted him in the audience

Maybe he's going to be in DWTS 6!

Oh man, that would just be too freaky!
If his interview with Eamon Holmes is anything to go by Drew/Samantha will be in for a tough time