Strictly Come Dancing

This site exists to feed the need for Strictly Come Dancing! Series 5 is upon us, starting on Saturday 6th October, and there is plenty to talk about. For all you fans out there this is the place to be; to gossip, to explore, to comment and to soak up Strictly fever!

On tonight's show Gethin and Camilla reflect on their performance last Saturday and will be asked of their reactions to the judges comments?

This week the girls are taking to the floor to dance either the Quickstep or the Rumba. If you want to know more about the dances and what the judges will be looking for?, then watch It Takes Two tonight!
Plus, Craig Revel Horwood looks at the girls in training and assesses their chances.

All that plus Stephanie and Vincent are on the sofa too.

It Takes Two is on Monday-Friday at 6.30pm on BBC Two.

Training has been a challenge for Letitia and Darren, with Letitia's confidence at a low, and nerves about performing on Saturday getting higher by the day.

'I know I will be terrified,' says Letitia. 'What I'm going to do is try to focus on Darren and dance with him. The reality might be a different thing! I might fall over. This is just Darren and myself, that's what I'm going to channel into.'

'I'm not that competitive with the girls, I think that starts this Saturday. But, what is competitiveness? I'm competing with myself - I'm dealing with my own issues at the minute.'

Darren explains, 'This year you have a group of female celebrities who have long legs. Models, pop stars, all in their twenties and thirties, so Letitia is feeling a little vulnerable at the moment. She thinks þWhat do I look like in comparison?' as opposed to thinking 'how much better am I at dancing than them?'

'For Letitia, it's not only about learning the dance, she's learning a lot about herself. The only person that will defeat her is her. It's about me giving that strength to Letitia so she can go out there with confidence she needs to perform.'

Stephanie Beacham appeared on ITV1's Loose Women on Monday, and talked about her goal to lose weight as a result of appearing on Strictly.

'Three years ago I gave up smoking, and I immediately put on 15 pounds, and that's really hard to lose. So I thought OK, I am going to lose at least ten pounds, and for every pound I don't loose, I'm going to donate £1000 to Children in Need.'

Stephanie also talked about the challenge of Strictly Come Dancing.

'The trouble is before you go on, you haven't got a script, you haven't got a character, you've just got you, and these movements, and you think 'how do I remember them?' Because they don't make any sense. So I've had to make up things like 'hailing a taxi'!'

'I've realised that it was actually 50 years ago when I gave up ballet, and the last time I did ballroom was at the age of five on my father's feet, and that was 55 years ago.'

Stunning Kelly Brook stepped out looking demure last night in a dazzling cream lace number.

The Strictly Come Dancing star took a break from waltzing up a storm on the hit show to attend the Pride of Britain awards with her man, Billy Zane.

Kelly was at the star-studded ceremony to present an award to one of the winners.

Kate is back on her feet and getting back into training with Anton.

'It's been two weeks so it's a huge relief to get back. I'm pleased because my feet are sore rather than agonising, so it's good to be back.'

How did it feel having to watch form the sidelines on Saturday?

'It was frustrating for me because I was all dressed up like Cinderella but I couldn't dance. I felt like I'd been left out with no one to ask me, like at the school dance!'

'The show was extraordinary. It was all systems go until the moment when you're stood on stage. I felt a bit sick. But it was fantastic, it really was electric. I think that made it all the more frustrating for me.'

But now, having lost so much rehearsal time, Kate knows she needs to work hard.

'I think before we had a lot of time laughing but today there was a lot of hip cracking. I think we are going to see a tougher Anton in the next few days but I suppose that is fair enough.'

'Anton has tried to tailor the routine for my injury which I hate because its like when you're at school that the teacher gives the pupils the good stuff and I'm sat colouring in.'

'I will dance to the best of my ability whatever on Saturday night. I will give it my all and that is all I really want. The doctor told me it's 50/50 for Saturday night. As far as I'm concerned it's a 100 percent.'

Our very own Spice Girl Mel B is set to star in Dancing with the Stars!

She is paired up with brilliant dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who came third earlier in the year with Laila Ali.

Good luck Mel!

The American version of Strictly Come Dancing was aired on BBC1 last night (Sunday 24th September). This show's finale aired in America in May 2007 and proved to be a massive hit in America.

The three final couples were professional boxer and daughter of Mohammed Ali, Laila Ali and her dance partner Marksim Chmerkovskiy. Former 'Nsync member Joey Fatone and dance partner Kym Johnson and gold medalist speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno and dance partner Julianne Hough.

The champions were Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough - congratulations!

To kick off the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC have announced that they will be airing a Strictly Come Dancing Special documentary about the SCD phenomenon!

It will show the first time the celebs meet their professional dance partners and will be following them in their first weeks of training.

It will also be taking a look back at previous series and contestants.

Can't wait!

Sexy Kelly Brook is set to raise a few pulses and eyebrows by wearing sexy outfits to show off her best assets!

The sexy model and actress will wear a flesh-coloured leotard with strategically places sequins if she reaches the semi-final..good ploy Kelly!

I know my boyfriend will certainly be voting for you

I've just heard the news that there will be a special documentary to kick-off the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, woohoo!

This will be shows a week before the official start of series 5 on the 29th September at 6pm.

This documentary will be taking a look at the Strictly Come Dancing phenomenon and interviewing loads of the previous celebrity contestants!

I can't wait!

The BBC has announced that this year's Strictly Come Dancing celebrities will ALL be getting the same fee of £25 000!

In previous years there has been tensions and tantrums back-stage due to the difference in paychecks.

To stop this, the BBC decided that everyone will get a flat rate, so big names like Penny Lancaster and Kelly Brook will be getting the same as lesser known celebs such as Matt di Angelo and Dominic Littlewood.

Interesting!

Sexy Tess Daly and old charmer Bruce Forsythe are set to return as the fantastic presenters of Strictly Come Dancing series 5!

They make a great team and you just have to love Bruce's little ways. the way he always has to have a little dance in between dances, his random jokes that no-one quite gets-we love him!

The sexy Tess Daly is also back and I know we are all looking forward to seeing her outfits each week.

This year Strictly Come Dancing decided to have a ticket lottery in order to distribute studio tickets fairly.

Fans had to put their details into a lottery by the 16th September and the lucky winners are being contacted today!

I haven't heard anything yet and I entered twice...done well, well done if anyone got some!

Woohoo, I have added my www.strictlycomedancing.tv website to my Facebook.

I have also created a flyer, which is a new service by facebook and have had loads of click thorughs already...thanks Facebook!

Head judge Len Goodman is a professional dance judge and teaches Ballroom and Latin dancing in his dance school in Kent.

He got into dancing when he injured his foot playing football and he was told that it would never heal enough to play professionally. Len has presided over all four series of Strictly so far.

The formidable Arlene Phillips is a professional choreographer and trained as a dancer at the Muriel Tweedy School of Dance.

Arlene created the pop group "Hot Gossip" which changed the face of the pop and dance world and brought about a whole new generation of dance and pop style.

She has worked on numerous Broadway and West End musicals, such as Starlight Express, The Sound of Music and We Will Rock You. Impressive!

Bruno Tonioli is one of the top choreographers in the film industry, as well as being a trained dancer. He has choreographed film such as Enigma, Ella Enchanted, and has worked with numerous recording artists such as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Freddie Mercury.

He recently won the television programme, Dance X, where he was pitted against long-time friend Arlene Phillips. Watch out Arlene!

Criag Revel Horwood, Mr Nasty But Nice, is an Australian dancer, choreographer and theatre director. Behind that sneer, Craig is a talented choreographer, picking up two Lawrence Olivier Award Nominations for Best Choreography in West End musicals.

Craig's bark is worse than his bite; how can we resist that smile: welcome back Craig!