I was at the show last night. Took my sister in the end as my wife was ill. She tried to post the results first but her PC crashed and by the time it recovered she'd been beaten to it!

Thought I'd put down a very short report about the day.

Firstly, getting there. I came from Dorset, and was thinking it would take 2 hours to get to London and another hour to crawl through the traffic and was planning a 2.30 arrival. As it happened, TVC is only about 3 miles off the M4 and traffic was not a problem - apart from Sheperds Bush Green because they are resurfacing Wood Lane and there are diversions. Parked in the NCP car park bottom of Sheperds Bush Green for £16, and loads of spaces. Sat Nav took us straight there. Short walk to TVC. Couldn't have been easier.

Got there 1.30 and 15th in queue, I think the ones who arrived much nearer the time would have got in. Loads of waiting, but thankfully it was warm and sunny day.

Got called into the studio just after 5. Whilst huddled in the bit between the cafe and the studio, the celebs and dancers were in the courtyard taking a bit of a breather, and Gary Rhodes came over and did a bit of the routine in front of the queue. Camilla wearing a shawl and Ugg boots that didn't match the dress. All were happy to mingle with the audience, and have pictures taken.

Dale Winton was the warm up comic and in charge of organising the audience. He was great! Bette Midler did her bit (wind beneath my wings)before the live show. Took her two takes, but she wasn't a diva.

There's been a lot of talk on if Bruce is past it. Deffinitely not. He came on before Bette to do an audience warm up, and was warm, spontaneous and absolutely professional. He switches between making the audience welcome by interaction with them and doing his take instantaneously and didn't fluff lines any more than Tess did. I think they only had to retake the trailers once. Tess herself came over as genuine - not turn off the smile once the cameras stop rolling as the papers report. They obviously have a very good chemistry between them, and TBH I think despite all the threads of dumping them, they do work very well and make the show what it is.

Live show was brilliant. I thought we wouldn't see a lot when the show was on because of the camera's everywhere, but they are so slick you didn't really see a lot of them. It's more like being at a show than a studio. In any case, we were sat by a monitor so what we couldn't see live we could see on the monitor.

The second show was late starting as the rehearsal over ran. The crew werer saying it's because it's first night, and they aren't fully back in the rhythm yet. We were called for the second show, and had to wait outside because of the rehearsal over run. Whilst there Stephanie Beacham came through and got stuck with us in the crowd. She's an absolute star. Went into a bit of chat with people there about who was going to be booted out, and wanted to start running a book and taking the money!

Second show was a bit segmented because of costume changes, but by and large it ran exactly as the finished show will apart from the odd pause. What surprised me was that when we were down to the final 2, they had a long pause before the judges to check something or other. Maybe that they had taped it correctly and wouldn't need to go over that again. who ends up out is only one take allowed I think. So whilst it will be a tense moment once edited, in the studio it wasn't tense as during the gap Bruce was working the audience.

After it was all over, Bruce closed the procedings and wished us all a safe journey. Deespite being at least 390 years old. he's still got what it takes to work an audience brilliantly and do the presenting at the same time, and I've now got a respect for him I didn't have before.

Absolutely fantastic day. Got home 1.30am and an now in need of more coffee to wake up.

If you get the chance to go, you will love it. But I guess people here will not be too shocked at this revelation!

Ha Ha, had to laugh at the Dale Winton comment. The warm up guy does look and act like him, but isn't in fact, Dale!

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the tip about the NCP carpark for those driving in.

I've applied for October 18th, so I guess I'll have to wait until the beginning of October to see if I've got tickets.

Thanks for posting this - I enjoyed it! And though I stayed up for the spoiler (didn't realise that her computer had crashed, but did read that she was home ill and you'd gone with your sister...) - well done for not accidentally revealing who went to those people who can actually bear to wait till tonight!

Well, I would say on this occcasion it was Dale. He came through the queue waiting for the rehearsals to finish, and chatted with people, includung two girls with Downs syndrome at the front of the queue for some time.

Thanks for the report.

Thanks for this really enjoyed reading it

Hey thanks for the report. How did you find the girls group dance and the Matt and Alesha dance?

Thanks for the report

Thanks very much for the report. How far in advance did you get your tickets? My daughter and I have both applied and I just wondered when they tell you if you have been successful. Thanks!

Difficult to judge any of the dancing TBH - I think you needed to have a slightly better view than we had to do this, but they did well. Thought Jodie Kidd was a bit tall with flailing limbs. Gilliany Taylforth struck me as a lot better than I was expecting. Didn't like her, but I can see myself warming to her.

My wife applied for tickets the day the auction applications opened, and they arrived with no email notice on Wednesday.

Alesha was excellent. Just before the dance, her and Matt had to take positions ready to dance, and they showed the VT segment that will go out on the show. It mostly consisted of clipsof her braying like a donkey, and she was cringing with embarassement - poor girl! But they both turned in a great performance none the less.

Thanks Stewie. Can't wait for the results show now!

Aw, that report was so lovely! We should get people doing that after every show.
And I laughed at the Camilla comment. :P

Stewie thank you for your report,i've enjoyed reading it and glad you had such a good time.

Could i just ask if Matt and Alesha did their Cha Cha in the first or second show ??.......and just your general view on their Cha Cha if you wouldn't mind

Great report - really glad you enjoyed it.

well done.

Are you SURE it was Dale and wasn't Stuart? Did he do jokes about Ikea, the light falling on your head...a bottle of bubbly etc, if so, then it's Dale's lookalike Stuart lol!

Glad you had a great time, you'll have to see if you're on TV when ITT is on.

Where were you sat?

Alesha wasin the front row of the audience throughout the first show, so it's seen in tonights show. It was one of the routines from last year, but great to see it again. We had a bit of restricted view (back row, bottom tier, under a dark corner) so didn't see it to the best effect, but it was certainly up to standard.

One comment I wanted to make about the judging comments:-

In the pre-show warm up, Dale was having a bit of banter with the judges and was comparing Craigs shade of perma-tan with a shade card. (Like HE can talk!). Just like a panto, we were encouraged to boo Graig as the villain. When the judges made their comments, they came over as rehearsed or even scripted. When Bruce says "Let's see them in training", a swarm of make up artists descend on the judges each time, and once they have made their comments they go back to chatting amiably, so I think a lot of it is a well rehearsed act for TV. But, it does help make the show what it is.

Well, I would lay money on it being Dale because of the chat outside the studio door waiting for the second show rehearsal to end. He was close to us for several minutes and we did say hello. Might be wrong, but pretty-gosh-darned-positive it was

That's definitely Stuart if he used the colour card with tans on, and compared it to Californian or something. Stuart's a really good warm up guy, although when you've seen him about 5 times, the jokes get a bit predictable However, if it was Dale, then apologies to you.

Ooh, you weren't on the balcony then, that makes a change! I think I sat where you sat once before and the cameras do obstruct your view a bit, but hey you're seeing SCD live!

Thanks Stewie, glad to hear you had a good time (I'd be a bit worried if you didn't though!). It's nice to find out a bit about what goes on and when.

thanks stewie
So regarding the male celebs which dance got the best reaction from the audience?
Also did Alesha get an interview with bruce/tess or did she just dance then go b ack and sit down?

Yep,last year M&K had to hand the glitter ball back etc etc so i'm wondering if M&A had to do all that .......and then maybe have an interview

After the dance, Alesha and Bruce had a few words, and she said she is coming on the show to debut her new single in a few weeks time.

As to who had the best reaction from the audience - difficult to tell to be honest. I think that everyone made lots of noise for all the celebs. I think Andrew Castle had a good reaction personally and I liked the routine. But my wife said on TV it didn't look that good. I think John Sergeant had a goos response too as he danced better than people were expecting. My sister liked the swimmer, but I think that was mainly because of his chest.

Many thanks for that Alesha news Stewie

The audience doesnt look that big (unlike TXF), how many get to go in?

Great report. Thanks for sharing Stewie_C