The full lineup: Abbey Clancy: model turned TV presenter, wife of former England footballer Peter Crouch Ashley Taylor Dawson: actor and singer best known as Darren Osborne in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks Ben Cohen: England rugby union World Cup winner turned anti-bullying campaigner Dave Myers: one half of the TV celebrity chef pairing (with Simon King) The Hairy Bikers Deborah Meaden: investor and Dragons' Den star estimated to be worth £40m Fiona Fullerton: actor known for her role as a KGB spy in the 1985 James Bond film, A View to a Kill Julien Macdonald: former British fashion designer of the year and judge on reality TV show Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model Mark Benton: actor whose credits include Murphy's Law, Waterloo Road and the stage musical Hairspray Natalie Gumede: actor who starred as Kirsty Soames in Coronation Street, leaving the ITV soap earlier this year Patrick Robinson: actor who recently returned to BBC1's Casualty after 17 years away from the long-running Saturday night series Rachel Riley: TV presenter who has overseen the words and numbers on Channel 4's Countdown since 2009, co-presenting the show with Nick Hewer Sophie Ellis-Bextor: singer and model best known for her 2001 hit single Murder on the Dancefloor Susanna Reid: journalist and presenter of BBC1's Breakfast, alongside former Strictly contestant Bill Turnbull Tony Jacklin: golfing legend, winner of the Open and US Open and most successful European Ryder Cup captain Vanessa Feltz: former talkshow host who now presents the early breakfast programme on Radio 2 http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/02/strictly-come-dancing-2013-contestants I've heard of seven of them...
There are only 4 names I was unfamiliar with. Not bad for the show - there's usually a bunch of Z-listers. Particularly looking forward to Mark Benton, Dave Myers, Rachel Riley and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Not necessarily for the same reasons...
I know 11 of them. I think it's quite a good lineup. I am still dissapointed that with Who's 50th anniversary taking place in the middle of the show's run they haven't got a Who presense (especially given how many doctors/companions are left)...unless Mark Benton's supposed to be the Who rep of course! Of course for all we know they've signed Jenna or Matt for the Christmas show Won't have an idea who to really root for until they start to dance and you start to see their personalities, but on purely shallow grounds for the moment I'll be paying close attention to Sophie Ellis Bextor, Susanna Reid and Rachel Riley... ...and whichever lucky bloke get's Ola!!!
Ditto 11. Cue the inevitable SEB 'Murder On The Dancefloor' jokes . I have Feltz down as this year's Ms UnPopularity-but-might-turn-public-around.
Oh Lurok it'll be dissapointing if we don't get that joke at least once. Craig "I don't know about murder on the dancefloor, that was more like genocide on the dancefloor, darling..." Good news (for me at least) Aliona is back replacing Natalie Lowe who's injured (hopefully not too serious)
Ditto. Maybe they are saving it for Christmas? I mean, it would have been embarrassing to sign a Who star who then gets knocked out before November 23rd... There was some talk about them wanting Jenna to do it...
For those that want to know the pairings before tomorrow. Spoiler: Spoiler Sophie & Brendon Abbey & Aljaz Rachel & Pasha Vanessa & James Fiona & Anton Deborah & Robin Natalie & Artem Susanne & Kevin Dave & Karen Ben & Kristina Tony & Aliona Mark & Iveta Julian & Janette Ashley & Ola Patrick & Anya Not the greatest line up but as long as Ben Cohen is in it that's all that matters!!
I love Strictly but there's something about this year's line up that isn't doing it for me. I'm just not as interested as in previous years *smacks self around head*.
Well sometimes it takes a while. Often I warm to people I'd never heard of, or to people I had preconceived notions about. Lisa Riley last year for example, she was great--not good enough to win but good enough to get as far as she did. Harry Judd's another one.
^ You're right, of course, Starkers. I'm sure that I'll get into it as it gets warmed up. I'm interested to see how Deboarah Meadon gets on, actually.
Why do they bother with the fakeness of "let's see who youre paired with", followed by long pauses a la masterchef, when they then admit "you've all been dancing with your partners for the last couple of days..." What the fuck have they put Vanessa Feltz in? Urg... They'd put Fiona Fullerton in a terrible outfit as well. In fact, in general, they overly make up the ladies so they look like they've all had bad plastic surgery- the girl from countdown was a lot nicer in the behind-the-scenes chat, for example
The spray tan/tons of makeup thing is off putting. Countdown girl is naturally gorgeous (and I'm not very fond of blondes).
Strictly has shown in the past that it can really dress its older female contestants well, and those with a more generous figure so I don't know what it was thinking with the dresses for Fiona Fullerton, Vanessa Feltz and Deborah Meaden this time. Some truly dreadfull stuff going on there! Susannah Reid's wasn't too bad, on the other hand. Less said about Tess' the better. I've never liked a single thing that woman has ever worn!!
Did they admit that on the actual show ‘cos I don’t remember it being mentioned? Or did you mean that because it was recorded from a few days ago they’ve been dancing with their celeb’s for a few days before the rest of us found out? The spray tans and makeup come with the territory, as for the outfits they’ve always been a bit wayward and have dressed some people better than others and oft times the dressers have got better at dressing particular people the longer they’re in the show. The outfitd were a bit poor in this one. Tess usually looks good in most things but I didn’t like her dress in this one at all. Anyway a few comments. Vanessa Feltz and James Jordan…They’ll kill each other, or possible they’ll team up and kill Craig, I’m not sure which way they’ll go yet. I don’t think they’ll be around very long. Nice to see Aliona back but she won’t be around for long. Ola will be around way longer than her husband this year! The girl out of Corrie looks good already I predict Anton will probably get further than he has in a long time… Rachel Reily looks like a rabbit in headlights, I hope the nerves don’t get to her A lot of the new dancers (male and female) seem a bit bland and samey at the moment. I think the show’s gonna miss Vincent and Flavia and Erin (and Natalie, in particular they no longer seem to have a tall girl which is a bugger for some of the male celebs. Tony, Deborah or Vanessa to be the first celeb out. I think Mark Warren might be a surprise package though. And who I’d put my money on at the moment? Sophie Ellis Bextor and Brendan (always assuming they don’t end up hating each other within 5 minutes…)
Agree with all the above. Especially the new dancers. There are two brunette Latin specialists, and I swear I can't tell them apart at the moment. Give it a few more weeks. Can't see Jacklin surviving long. Feltz and Jordan are going to be Craig catnip. And give as good as they get. Panto season comes early this year. Deborah Meaden may be a bit of a dark horse. Ditto Fullerton (and that will be good for Anton). Rachel Riley...bless. . Hope she proves the naysayers wrong. I suspect Sophie will buckle down like a pro and surprise people. She has the innate grace and poise; just needs the technique. Three weeks to go...