As I type this, Willie Thorne is commentating on the snooker Grand Prix at Aberdeen - he's on BBC 2 right now - so when does he get time to do his dance practise?



How can he spend the hours practising if he's doing snooker commentary? Most strange. Shouldn't he do one or the other but not both?

mornings and nights?

Sometimes the professional dancers fly to whereever the celebs are working to fit in some dance practice, so perhaps Erin is in Scotland with him and they will practice around his commentating commitments.

Quite a few of them have jobs that they have to do as well as practice, I'm sure its easily possible if you have the desire.

Perhaps, but if he's at the event in Aberdeen I doubt he's going to travel back and forth. The time in travel would limit the time to practise. I'm a bit disappointed to see him doing snooker. I know it's his job to commentate but if he's signed up to do Strictly shouldn't his dance practise come first?

The judges will have a go at him if he's not up to standard. "Too much snooker, Willie!" :P

If you remember, a couple of series ago, Camilla had to follow Roger Black "here there and everywhere" to get in some practice as he refused to give up his busy schedule of engagements for his own company. His performance and early elimination are testimony to that.

If these people are going to appear on this show, they should not be engaged in other activities that stop them practicing. It's not as if the BBC is short of snooker commentators is it?

As Terry Wogan so sniffily told 'Points of View' viewers yesterday in reply to the question of how Kenny Logan got so quickly from the SCD results show to ITV to commentate on the rugby the previous week 'It's called a recording'.
What's happened is that Willie has recorded lots of words and then the Beeb have strung them together into sentences to make it sound as if Willie's commentating.

ETA: The snooker probably finishes this Sunday because the quarter finals are on Friday. Just depends how quickly - and where - the next tournament starts.

He won't be travelling. The pro travels to wherever the celeb is based as some have said. For example, Erin used to travel to Wales everyweek with Colin and to Copenhagen and Manchester with Schmeichel.

Let's face it, Willie isn't exactly king of the ballroom so it won't make difference but strange to see him on tv when he's part of a dance competition. They always make a big deal out of the contestants putting in hours - up to eight hours a day practise. I assume Willie is a natural and doesn't need to practise.

Like I said in my post above, the professionals often travel to where the celebs are working and they fit in some practice there.

I think I remember Erin flying to Denmark last year when Peter Schmeikel (sp) had football commentating commitments there. They were seen practicing in a dance studio in Denmark.

A lot of the celebs continue to do their day jobs whilst on the programme.

Gethin is still doing Blue Peter however many days that's on (I'm too old to watch Blue Peter now ..lol)

So they should give up their regular job that pays the bills?

I don't think so.

They all carry on with their work and fit the training in. They are not competing in an Olympic event just an entertainment programme.

It's unrealistic to expect the celebrities to give up their day job. They've still got to earn a living outside of the show.

Well then it's more reality tv deception because each week we're told how many hours the contestants put into dancing. If they say "Willie spent hours practising" we'll know it's untrue. It's possible Thorne won't be commentating at the snooker each day this week. I'll keep an eye out and see if he does.

I thought the point of the show was to put in the hours - that's what makes you competent at each dance routine. If people have jobs - fair enough, but why go on the show if you've got a job during the day? Seems counterproductive. They should sign celebs that can take the time off?

From what I have read in interviews, Dominic has a full schedule filming for his various TV shows, and is training in the evenings. He has still managed to do more hours than most of the other celebs according to Claudia!

But aren't they getting paid to appear on the show? They're not dancing for free. They could forgo their other work - or am I being too naive?

But Willie won't be commenting on the snooker 24 hours a day, he can still fit in a couple of hours practice a day if he want's too. He could still put in "hours" of training.

As others have stated it would be impractical for the celebs to give up their day jobs just for the sake of a reality show that they could get booted off after two weeks. They still have to make a living and if they take time off work the media will be only too quick to get someone in to replace them.

The jobs that the celebs are doing aren't 24 hour a day jobs so they can still fit in a couple of hours training if they wish to.

I see your point but to play devil's advocate you could argue they're getting paid to appear on Strictly Come Dancing so they don't need to work during their time on the show. I've no idea how much the celebs get paid but it must be a reasonable amount.

I didn't say that. Did I?

It's a case of the BBC choosing people in the first place, who can fully commit. It's not as if they ain't "knee-deep" in celebrities is it?
From what I remember said on SCDT2 art the time, was that Camilla wasn't too chuffed about it. As she spent time hanging around in strange places waiting for him.

Some people will understate how much time they can give.

His isn't any sort of "nine to five" job.

http://www.rogerblack.co.uk/

I do see your point but the world of media is very competitive and these celebs may not want to turn down an opportunity of commentating on a sporting event in case someone else is brought in to replace them. Say Willie turned down the snooker event but was voted out the first week. They would have got someone else in to replace him and he would be left without a job.

If a celeb is signed up for £10 -20,000 - just a random figure, I could be way out with that - perhaps they don't need to do their main job? If you're a cynical person you could argue "I'll sign on, get paid, still do my main job, do a few hours practise but not do too much, get voted off." Win win win!

I know, being cynical is not good.

I've no idea of course as the BBC will refuse to divulge the information.

But I'd suggest that no one would sign up, probably a few months in advance, for a committment of possibly twelve weeks.......err... "but it might only be one."

I'd suggest they may even all get pretty much the same amount of money, regardless how long they stay in and that would apply to the pros too.
"Staying in" of course will improve "their market value."

But a lot of them have jobs that they can't just say "I'm going to take a couple of weeks off so just get someone in to replace me and when I'm voted off I'll just have my own job back"

Say in the case of Gethin. The producers of Blue Peter need to plan ahead for the shows, if he was to take time off they would have to book replacement for him or get the other presenters to cover for him.

It's more practical for the celebs to keep their day jobs and rehearse around them. Like I said, their day jobs don't take up 24 hours in the day so there is still time to do both.

How many people here hold down a day job and then do a couple of hours football/dance practice or go to night school for a couple of hours a night.

Ever thought of the possibility that he's actually up on his feet practising the dance steps in his head-phone-mic and commentating on the game at the same time?

Y'know, multi-tasking???

The problem with Roger Black was that one of his "day" jobs I think, was in the South of France!

There's a limit as to what is acceptable.

Who knows? He could be jiving around the commentary box


I wouldn't mind a coupld of trips to the South of France, it's only a couple of hours on a plane, no more than driving from London to Manchester for rehearsals.

I do know what you mean though, but surely that would be up to the BBC to tell the celebs what is acceptable and turn down those celebs where they think too much traveling would be involved in training.