Cherie is doing American Smooth and Rumba.

I would think that Tom will do quickstep.

I think the local support could be interesting - it favours Jill in Newcastle and to some extent in Sheffield (due to partnering the local Yorkshire lad - Lilia and Julian may reap some benefit too), Tom from neighboring Derbyshire might do well in Sheffield too along with Nottingham, Kenny will be definitely be boosted in Glasgow although if he can impress the judges enough to be a contender might be interesting to find out. It's a shame for Geth that the tour isn't going into Wales although some parts of it within relatively easy traveling distance of Birmingham and Liverpool meaning he might get a boost to his chances in those cities and possibly even Manchester too. That said poor Denise Lewis didn't seem to get much support from her home city of Brum last year.

I think it's going to be even more spread out this year with Jill, Gethin, Tom and possibly Rachel and Cherie winning in some places - I'm also hopeful that Jodie might do a Tish and have a victory somewhere too - she seems a similar sort of contender in that she's a popular lady who makes up for not being the best by having determination, enthusiasm and a lovely relationship with her partner.

I think as you say that people, from Wales, may got to Birmingham and Liverpool however I and my friends will be voting for Gethin in Birmingham too I voted for Tish when I saw the tour last year but didnt realise until I got my SCD Annual for Christmas that she had actually won one, so I was pleased.

I'm from Wales and am going to Birmingham and will probably vote for Cherie but Geth's Waltz may convince me otherwise

I'm getting really excited now!

I think Rachel will win quite a few. Her rhumba is great and she came second in the series which was only last week so shes hardly really unpopular.

Im a bit worried about gethin not winning many because i remember reading somewhere that Denise didnt win any last time round when she had Matt Cutler as her partner rather then Ian. I hope Gethin doesnt loose some votes coz hes not dancing with camilla.

Tom, Gethin, Jill and Rachel are all certs to win possibly with Tom winning the most dates.
I would also like to see Jodie and Cherie win a few dates but it all depends in there scores from the judges.

Dont think Denise and Matt won one at all did they ? I think Gethin is popular enough to carry his fans despite not being with Camilla, and Flavia is a fantastic dancer and I expect them to be great together to be honest. The judges do try to mix things up a bit so that everyone gets a chance to shine.

I hope Tom doesnt win any of the ones I am at or I may have to boo

I am pretty sure it will be spread around amongst those we expect. Personally I would expect Jill to win more than any of the others, which is ok with me.

well im going to Newcastle so i expect Jill to win
I like her a lot but i would probably prefer Gethin or Rachel to win although i wont bother voting coz theres no point LOL Jil win every single newcastle one.

I hope your right about Gethin Jan, hes my favourite male to appear on the show but i just have this awful feeling people wont like the fact 'Flavia isnt with Matt. Denise and Matthew didnt win any like you said but i suppose Denise wasnt as popular as Gethin.

I think based on her storming result at Christmas - Jill has to be the favorite to be the overall winner

I'll be voting for Gethin at Brum (obviously). However I do think that the "Matt and Flavia" fans as opposed to the "Matt" fans will vote for Gethin - they had better do!

same but then how come "matt and alesha" fans didnt vote for matt and Denise on the tour last time round.
I hope im proved wrong he deserves 40s for his waltz so he should be top of the judges leaderboard a few times.

Well obviously I am biased where Gethin is concerned, and really hope he does win some, I would be suprised if he didnt to be honest, he was very very popular on last series, like Tom he was never in the dance off until the semi final and unfortunately HE didnt get a pass on to the final, boy that would have been some final with the three most popular ones in it, but there you go cant go back, not sure his popularity will change just because he isnt with Camilla, unless someone objects very strongly to Flavia for some reason, which is up to them ofcourse but not logical. I think Flavia is a more exciting dancer than Camilla so I am looking forward to seeing what they will do together. I am sure that there will be some Matt fans from last year who wont be happy but from what I can see, most are fine with it, afterall Matt is busy doing his play and isnt on tour so having Gethin dance with Flavia gives Flavia a good chance of winning more events than if she was with Julian for instance !!!!.

I recently had the great pleasure of meeting Gethin and chatted to him about the tour, he said that he was given the chance to dance with Flavia or Kristina and was happy that it was Flavia because he knew her well already, which will obviously help them in their training.

However whatever will be will be and I am just happy happy happy to have the opportunity to see him dance again.

I'm just wondering if Jill might not be in a really strong position as far as regional loyalties go... obviously Newcastle will be a strong area for her, dancing with Darren might mean the same is true for Sheffield, and her EE role might do well for her at the London venues as it did for Matt DA last year.

Obviously she is also a great dancer and well remembered from Strictly which also helps!

I'm not sure thats strictly ('cuse the bad pun) true - Matt and Denise last year are a good example that audiences aren't always that keen on mixed up partnerships. Both Denise and Matthew are fairly popular in their own right, danced brilliantly - at least the times I went - and yet never won a single Tour show.

I am a Flavia fan - and Matt obviously, no point me hiding that - but I'm not sure I will vote for Gethin just because he's dancing with my favourite professional. I normally vote for the partnership - if their dancing on the night inspires me then I will vote but on paper at the moment Jill and Darren or Jodie and Ian get my vote.

Don't forget Matt is also a local London boy - that might have helped too, not just the Eastenders vote otherwise Letitia might have won a few in London too.

Do we know who is dancing what?

I hope Kenny does his paso

I think tom might win more dates then Jill.
Jill is a better dancer but Tom is the one most people will be voting for if last years is anything to go by.
Matt won the most votes which i think is partly because he was in the most recent show and reached the final.
Jill will get all the newcsatle votes but other then that she may end up a bit like Darren Gough did (he didnt win that many) and Tom or Rachel will get the most. I stil want Gethin to win lots but it is looking unlikely.

I wonder if that was more Denise than Matt though- she was never very popular in her own series, plus she danced a long time ago and isn't really remembered the way Jill is (somewhat unfairly, although I prefer Jill).

I'm never really sure about regional loyalties either- I live a few miles from Ian Waite and it would never occur to me to vote for him because of that! On the other hand my whole family is from Sheffield, and my favourites are Darren, Lilia and Darren Gough- so maybe there is something in it!
Goughie clearly benefitted from regional loyalties on the tour though, I seem to remember he won most of the Sheffield dates.
I do think the EE factor probably has an impact, Matt was a more obvious of the two to vote for. Same as in Sheffield- Darren B is as much from there as Darren G, but it was Goughie that got the votes. Goughie and Matt were both stronger dancers than Letitia so I would have expected regional loyalties to go in favour of them rather than Tish.

I'm not sure in the South we have quite the same sense of regional loyalty, although I've never really thought about it. I wonder if Ian and Zoe would have won if they'd danced at the Reading Hexagon? Only if his family and friends turned out and voted I suspect. Purely based on that I would expect it was more EE that explained Matt's wins than the fact that he lives in London, although obviously it is dancing above all that decides it!

Blimey I have ebay advert for scd tickets on this page has anyone else ??? £349 for front row at birmingham and I am not sure they are actually front row dance floor at all.

soo..
Cherie and James are dancing the rumba and american smooth
kenny and ola the viennese waltz and the paso
jill and darren will be jiving for sure and maybe american smooth as they have won the christmas special with it
gethin and flavia the waltz and jive/ salsa
tom and camilla the foxtrot and salsa perhaps? (he wont pick his jive again, will he? )
julian and lilla quickstep and samba for sure
rachel and vincent rumba and tango/ waltz/ foxtrot i think
jodie and ian will be waltzing/ quicksteping and doing jive I think..

sooo where am I wrong? / or where am I right- will be quicker /

Think Flavia and Gethin are dancing the waltz and salsa.

And I think Kenny is doing American Smooth and Paso unless its changed......he did the one arm lift in the AS

Bit arrogant aren't you

I'm from Wales too and I'm going on an inclusive coach tour from here - to the O2. I know of at least one other coach trip going to the O2, as well.

I'll be voting for Gethin and I'm getting excited too!!

We were going to go on the coach to the O2 as well But as the Birmingham dates are in half term it means I can go for the weekend. Seriously tempted to see if there are still tickets on the trip to the O2 because I would love to go twice!

When i went, everyone cheered very loudly in Manchester when Denise and Matthew came on, but the judges seemed to undermark them by quite a bit, the quickstep was fab and so was their rumba we also got to see Matthew Wiggle his bum (in a rumba way - sorry cant remember what its called ) when kate asked him to, which was very nice
but Matthew is alot more popular then Denise, denise hasnt danced on the show for years, so it probably made it harder for her popularity to rise back up again against some of the others on the tour.
however they were fabulous to watch and could tell they really enjoyed dancing together. gutted Matthew isnt dancing with another celeb this upcoming tour, but its should be fab to see him dance with Kristina..
and as for who i am going to vote for, i am going to go for whoever 'wows' me on the night (apart from rachel!!) and cheer very loudly when Matthew & kristina come on