Great show.
Penny was FAB!!,so was Alesha.
Not liking Kelly but perhaps she will grow on me.
Letitia is my fave girl but only cos i think she might struggle against the other girls.

I'm so glad its back and what a great first show. I know absolutely nothing about dancing but I've watched every series of Strictly & I think its going to be a close contest this year. From what we saw tonight, I think they all did really well & there doesn't seem to be anyone of the Chris Parker or Fiona Phillips standard. I'm relieved that Dominic wasn't awful as Lilia is my favorite professional and I was pleasantly surprised by Willie as I had the preconceived idea that he would be this years Quentin Wilson. I have a feeling that Latitia may be this years teachers pet and I was shocked at just how tall Penny Lancaster is. Think it may be Brian & Kenny in the bottom 2 tomorrow and think Kenny may go purely based on popularity.

As others have said, the women showed a lot more promise and next week will be vey interesting. Enjoyed watching Barnesy, but what has he been doing to get that pudgy? Gethin is cute so may go far... Great start to the show (Brucie aside) and I look forward to my daily SCD fix! Hope ITT gets rid of promoting celebs and focuses on the dancers!

I have always been a staunch supporter of Brucie but thought he was dire tonight - even his bad jokes didn't endear, he got things wrong, fluffed his lines and looked like he didn't know where he was half the time. Anyone else notice that he was worse than usual ?

He looked ill at ease with it

I am biased because I really don't like him, but I thought he was bloody awful.

Absolutely, couldn't have put it better myself!

I thought the opposite. I normally find him cringeworthy but I thought he was alright tonight.. well not that bad anyway.. and he is very old!

No , I didn't think he was that good at all .
Nor could I see why Gethin was criticised so much , great routine , great variety of steps , he enjoyed it and unfortunately his back was towards the judges a bit much .
I rated John , Gethin and Willie , didn't rate Matt or Kenny , but then he had a great routine , Didn't really like Dominic or his routine and thought Brian didn't deserve such a low score , my low score would have gone to Matt .

As to the comment about " we don't need Mark and oh so desperate Karen " ...yes we do , why ? because it will show how good he was , and maybe others can be and hopefully allow this year's lot to see what delivering a dance and getting the audience to feel like dancing too , is all about .

John Barnes is the only guy with a sense of rhythm, he just needs to loose 2 stone. The girls were premier league tonight and unfortunately the guys performed like a pub team.

John's got 2 weeks before his next proper dance so he can at least lose 7lbs and slim down that belly a bit!

Although I agree with a lot of posters here that the girls look much better than the guys. I would find the show very boring if everyone started off amazing. I want to see someone really learn to dance and with the guys we may get someone who comes out and really shines in a way that the girls can't. Hate to say that word, but the guys seem more apt for the journey's and the girls seem good already.

I thought Willie was the best tonight. Erin will help him with his confidence.

I can't.

Each to their own, eh?

He can loose the weight......exercise:exercise and exercise....and the fat just disappears. Nicole just needs to work on him and if the competitive trait that all sportsmen/women have kicks in again he will want to train till he drops and the fat will miraculously disappear.

My money is on Kenny to go,I know absolutely nothing about dancing and even I could see he was as stiff as a board,he hardly moved!
I really,really,really hope Stephanie's in for a while,I am biased but I honestly thought she danced well in the group thing,and I was getting ready to cringe because my mum and dad insisted on watching her bit.
Also thought she was hilarious in the training clips.
Bruce irritated the hell out of me after about two minutes,is he always like that or was it first night nerves?

He has lost some weight from the first promo pics

Nor can I and yes , chacun a son gout .

Perhaps he has been ill this week like Brian? I thought he mentioned something about the bad week they have had when Brian and Karen finished their dance.
He is nearly 80 and it's tough doing a live show.

Interesting opening and no obvious star among the men yet - they are less good than last year. Overall I more or less agreed with the marks/placings, except the judges were, relatively, a bit too generous to Dominic and John and a bit too harsh to Gethin, who I thought delivered more content competently. Nice for Willie to do well, though I imagine there's only a couple more ballroom dances he'd do well at and he's unlikely to shine in any of the Latin - a repeat of last year for Erin, which is a shame.

I second that. I only really got into the show last year and was totally un-impressed with Bruce. He seemed much worse tonight though, almost embarrassing and behind the times. Not comfortable viewing.

Thank god Bruno and Len have remembered how to mark and judge effectively unlike DWTS which I spent the evening shouting at the TV (straight 9's on week 2 is ridiculios).

John - my favourite man definatley had rythmn and has the most potential out of the men.

Dom - after seeing the training I was disappointed as he seemed to be much better 3 weeks ago at the cha cha. Perhaps nerves got him.

Gethin - not as awful as the judges said. But wow isn't he handsome

Willie - had to agree with the judges best waltz of the night, but the latin is bound to be a disaster.

Kenny - very stiff and seemed to be dancing on tip toes.

Brian - how awful was he, really shocked as I though Karen would have made him look much better than that

Matt - not impressed wth Matt, so much to the dance training we had heard about.

Think that Brian will go home.

Girls group dance - loved it. Def a girl to win this year streets ahead of the boys. Esp liked Penny and Kelly. Tisha's dress was awwful.

Fav dress of the night - ERIN

Poor Brucie was dire tonight - worse than usual- sometimes his bad jokes are quite endearing, tonight tho they just seemed like bad jokes and he made lots more mistakes thn normal - may be time to retire? Sad Day.

Can't believe I forgot that. Erin's dress was beautiful.
Her dresses are always something to look out for

I watch it with my mum cousins and aunts so that is one of our favourite bits.

Thought Nicole was lucky to stay in hers