On Monday’s show they featured Anton & Jerry, Craig Revel-Horwood and Louis & Flavia.

What do the judges make of this year’s celebs?

Fern Britton

Bruno: “The nation’s sweetheart”
Craig: “She loves dancing, if you’ve got an attitude like that – you can win”
Len: “I think Fern’s going to do alright”

Kimberley Walsh

Darcey: “Kimberley’s going to be great, she’s got a great little bod, the professional dancers are going to love throwing her around and getting her into the right positions”
Bruno: “Is she going to be the season love machine?”

Dani Harmer

Len: “Kids love Strictly, and kids love Dani Harmer”
Craig: “She’ll be an absolute firecracker”
Bruno: “She has to kind of ignite a sense of fun, first & energy. But remember technique, technique, technique”

Denise Van Outen

Darcey: “She’s got the looks, she’s got the physique”
Craig: “Let’s not forget the glitz and glamour of the vajazzle”
Bruno: “Denise could do incredibly well”

Lisa Riley

Darcey: “Lisa, I think she’ll be a beautiful performer, I’m looking forward to her”
Bruno: “Lisa, 100% woman”
Craig: “You’ve got to use what you’ve got, and if you’ve got it, flaunt it, use it and win it”

Victoria Pendleton

Craig: “Obviously is used to two fabulous wheels going hideously fast around the velodrome, will she do the same on the Strictly Come Dancing floor”
Bruno: “Did you see Victoria’s abs, I’m ashamed, she is fit”

Jerry Hall

Craig: “It isn’t always true that supermodels can dance, they may be able to walk…”
Darcey: “It will be interesting to see if she has the flexibility in that long limbed body”
Bruno: “Jerry, give me that super-glamour”

Len: “You never know who’s going to rise to the top and who’s going to sink without trace.”

Sid Owen

Bruno: “We all like a bit of rough”
Craig: “I’m hoping he will come literally from the dance gutters, up, and surprise us all”

Michael Vaughan

Bruno: “Actually cricketers historically have done really, really well”
Darcey: “I think he’s obviously up for the challenge, even though he’s used to the audience and attention, when you get on that dance floor it’s a very different scene, not like a cricket pitch at all”

Richard Arnold

Craig: “Let’s hope and pray he uses his time backstage wisely and doesn’t get involved in too much gossip”
Len: “I like him, he’s got a great personality, he can be a tad camp you know”

Johnny Ball

Craig: “Older contestant ever!”
Len: “He’s clever you know, mathmatic, I hope he can just remember 2, 3, Cha Cha Cha…come on Johnny, do it for the oldies”
Darcey: “He looks very fit for his age”

Colin Salmon

Len: “00 SE-VEN”
Craig: “Will Colin be shaken, not stirred?”
Bruno: “A little bit of Salmon everyday is good for you…sounded filthy”

Nicky Byrne

Craig: “Westlife, what are they famous for? On every key-change they stand up, they very rarely dance!”
Len: “I just hope he comes out and gives it a bit of welly”
Bruno: “He’s not going to have an easy ride, I want to put him through hell, because I like him”

Louis Smith

Darcey: “Louis Smith is going to be a great surprise for us all”
Len: “Hunky dunky doughnut”
Bruno: “If he can only replicate his success in the Olympics, it will be a sensation”

Jerry Hall & Anton Du Beke

Jerry felt her Cha Cha was ok, but was more thrilled with how her ‘working’ it went.

She plans to excite Len with the pushing of her pelvis forward in the Foxtrot. Anton felt they came out of the judges comments quite well, compared with what he was expecting.

They then show a VT of Jerry posing throughout their training before talking about the Foxtrot training – it’s all about the walking Jerry tells us.

Craig Revel-Horwood

“I know from my face and my comments you probably think I didn’t [enjoy it] but I absolutely loved it”

Craig on:
Lisa & Robin – “I love the fact that she has natural rhythm…I don’t know how she’s going to go into the ballroom…watch out for [her posture]”
Nicky & Karen – “Both feet were off the floor…it’s written very clearly in the rulebooks”
Kimberley & Pasha – “I really love her…yes she’s had a bit of dance experience before”
Victoria & Brendan – “Unfortunately when you [mess up] it’s difficult to recover…my advice is to make it up…smile covers everything”
Denise & James – “I think Len was being really picky, but he has every right”
Johnny & Iveta – “[The miming] distracts from the rest of the dance…he got all the steps right, in the right order…the execution I was slightly bewildered by”
Richard & Erin – “His hands end up like spatulas…I don’t agree [that he should have been more camp]”
Colin & Kristina – “Nasty freestyling stuff”
Dani & Vincent – “She needs to straighten her leg [when kicking]…her back is quite loose, lovely curve to the spine”

Why is the dance off a good thing? “Power to the judges!”

Louis & Flavia

Zoe: “How does the pressure compare to the Olympics?”
Louis: “It’s like a fun scarieness”

They show a VT of Darcey practically drooling over Louis throughout his routine, which I think even surprises Louis “I didn’t realise she was licking her teeth”

It’s going to be Viennese Waltz for them next week.

So that’s episode 1 of 55 out of the way, I’m working till 10.30pm tonight (on my week off!) so don’t expect that post until a lot later tonight.

The post It Takes Two – Monday 8th October appeared first on Learn To Dance.

1: 7 Denise & James
2. 6 Michael & Natalie
2. 6 Nicky & Karen
4. 5 Colin & Kristina
4. 5 Fern & Artem
6. 3 Victoria & Brendan

The judges and I aren’t quite seeing eye to eye just yet, but it’s early days and I’m looking forward to seeing tomorrow night’s show.

Hope you enjoyed the first show tonight, remember if you want to ‘Keeeep Dancing’ you know where to find us!

The post Week 1 Leader Board – Day 1 appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Think both couples were unfortunate to be in the bottom two and thought Martina had more promise than Rav, but that’s life I suppose.

Wish I could lip-read what Matt and Martina are saying to each other during their last dance!

Oh well, here’s to next week and the remaining 8 celebrities.

Although I’ll mention now that this blog won’t be running live next Friday night due to our practice session on 25th September, but i’ll blog per dance after we finish.

Hope people have found this interesting to read and i’ll try and update during the week if anything interesting catches my eye!

By the way, if you want to apply for the ballot to get tickets for a special Strictly recording at Blackpool Tower on Saturday 7th November then please visit http://shows.external.bbc.co.uk/help/shows/Strictlycomedancing to apply before Sunday 27th September 10pm.  Only one application per household though!

The post The result appeared first on Learn To Dance.