FROM THE BBC PRESS OFFICE:

Strictly Come Dancing
Saturday 13 September
Time to be confirmed BBC ONE
www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing
Press pack

As smash-hit entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing limbers up for its 2008 series, this year's launch show offers a sneak preview of the new batch of celebrity would-be dancers who will be taking to the floor.

This year the exciting series promises to be bigger and better than ever, with a record 16 couples taking part, and three new professional dancers joining the troupe.

Behind-the-scenes peeks at the couples' progress give a glimpse of the chemistry between each pair, plus the chance to see how steady they are as they don their dancing shoes and begin their tough training regime.

Judges Len Goodman, Arlene Phillips, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli spill the beans on what they really think of each other and what they'll be looking out for this year. The standard of dance may have gone up every series – but so have their expectations!

There's also a look back at all the drama and emotion from the last series.

This year's celebrities are: Christine Bleakley, Jodie Kidd, Cherie Lunghi, Heather Small, Lisa Snowdon, Rachel Stevens, Gillian Taylforth and Jessie Wallace for the women, and Andrew Castle, Tom Chambers, Phil Daniels, Mark Foster, Austin Healey, Gary Rhodes, John Sergeant and Don Warrington for the men.

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly return for the first live show next week in which the eight male celebrities perform to try to stay in the competition. There will also be a chance to see the women dance, too, in a spectacular group performance.

Woo thanks for this. Soo looking forward to it and seeing how they are looking and shaping up in preparation for the show!!

I hope they have past celebs on there like they did on last years one..

Yeah, the training footage should be very interesting - especially John Sergeant's!

Whoo hoo.....fantastic news......a get to know them for the new ones and a trip down memory lane.....how fab.....

ooooooo sounds good!

Thanks for the post! It'll be great to see sneak-peeks of the new contestants training ect

Oh bugger so they ARE doing the male and female weeks - that really spoils it for me - should have less couples all dance on first week and no elimination

week1 is males
week2 is females
week3 is males
week4 is females
and then from this point they compete together
i think

IT'S OFFICIAL! (again, this comes from the BBC Press Office):


* In week one, one male dancer will exit after performing either a waltz or a cha cha cha, whilst the girls strut their stuff in a group dance.

* In week two, one female dancer will exit after performing a salsa or foxtrot, whilst the men perform a group number.

* In week three, another male dancer will exit and the female dancers will perform another group number.

* In week four, another female dancer will go and the male dancers will perform another group number.

* From week five onwards, all couples compete together in a bid to impress the judges and the audience at home to stay out of the bottom two places on the leaderboard.


I've gotta say that FIVE WEEKS until we get into the Series proper, is royally pushing it!
Last edited by Baywatcher : 30-08-2008 at 09:10

Sounds great, I can't wait

Can someone tell me who Christine Bleakley is? She is the only one I haven't heard of.

She's the co-host of BBC One's: "The ONE Show"

Am I understanding correctly?

Sat 13th in the preview show and the dance competition starts the following week?

Yes.

That's great, next Saturday is Eurovision, the week after is the preview show, and the week after is the start of the main show!

Saturday night dancing is back!

Thanks for the info. Can't wait.

That's great news - I can put this in my sky+ as series link for the following week will automatically record as I come back from my hols on the 20th and it is going to be tight.

I was hoping that they had stopped the single sex weeks but no they have increased then

Ooo...the girls have got it tough. The waltz and cha cha are relatively easy compared to some of the other dances but half the ladies will have to tackle the tricky foxtrot first.

Completly agree with you if they need less dancers for the first few weekss randomly split them between male and female and change them after the first 2 weks for weeks 3 and 4

I'm probably gonna miss the first 2 weeks tbh as firstly I can't stand that male/female only dancing baloney as for me it gets boring :yawn:. Plus it will be on for far too long with two extra celebs imo.
I'm contemplating not bothering for four weeks actually; as I really hate the way they are dragging it out now - all that padding is not to my taste.

Actually I would have thought quickstep is even more difficult for the ladies to start with in the past two series. Foxtrot is more difficult for a male-celeb to do as for the female celeb they are 'safer' in the hands of male celebs.

However, the reverse is true of rhumba. It's very difficult because the female is left alone a lot, and for those weaker dancers, it will be a difficult routine to pull-through.

So my ideal female opening week dance will be salsa (for 'freedom' and less disciplined like, say, a jive) and foxtrot!

I agree. They are seriously going to kill it. Not liking this one bit.

Totally agree! Four weeks of single sex evictions is really pushing it! I expect I will still watch it though!!!

That's the problem they know we are all hooked on it