Strictly Line Up Announced

It's all out now - we know this year's Strictly partnerships are out. You can see the full list here.

Nice to see Camilla Dallerup has got another good looking young man. She seems to have been compensated for having David Dickinson in the first series with the likes of Gethin, James Martin and now Holby's Tom Chambers. She has come so close in the last few years and it would be good to see her go all the way.

I knew Anton would get either Gillian Taylforth or Cherie Lunghi. Gillian has a great sense of humour and it may be that she at least has the personality, and hopefully the talent, to get them further than he has gone before.

I love Karen Hardy, but I'm not convinced that she and Gary will bring out the best in each other. They can both be very passionate about things in a way that can sometimes be slightly annoying. Just one of them in the partnership being that way would be fine - but both? Hmmmmm.

It's maybe a bit of a shame to give the new girl John Sergeant. We all know he's going to be grumpy as sin. We political people may have a huge affection for him but I suspect that the general public might not be disposed to spend 25p voting for him. Given the shallow nature of the voting public, mainly dominated by young girls, his having a face like a gnarled old leather boot will not help him. Not that I'm suggesting it would amongst a male electorate, either, you understand.

Lilia has, in Don Warrington, obviously drawn the big bloke with no sense of co-ordination who the public will love, for a while, like Peter Schmeichel and John Barnes. I don't think she'll get as far in this one as she has before. I guess it's her turn to take a back seat.

Darren and Jessie could be an interesting combination. She can be quite volatile if you believe what you read in the papers and he is calmness and serenity personified. Potentially a similar pairing to Letitia last year. Definite potential there.......

Christine Bleakley and Matthew Cutler just seem such a wholesome lovely couple, representing everything that is good about the World - it's hard not to fall in love with them already.

Andrew Castle and Ola Jordan will be brilliant, I'm sure - but will they have the chemistry in the latin dances? Andrew just seems a bit too domesticated for raw sexual energy:-) Let's hope they do the waltz first. However, Michael Underwood and Jenni Falconer have shown that the GMTV reality default position is not "rubbish" - anyone remember Fiona, Kate and Penny? And his sporting background makes him a contender.

I wish we didn't have to wait until 20th September for the series to start.