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'Seeing Artem dancing with Holly Valance is really weird': Kara Tointon steps aside for boyfriend's Strictly partner

By Emily Sheridan Mail

'Strictly' Judge Bruno Tonioli Defends Comedy Contestants

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Bruno Tonioli has denied that having comedy contestants on Strictly Come Dancing undermines the competition.

Much of last year's series was taken over by the comedy performances of former MP Ann Widdecombe and her professional partner Anton Du Beke.

With a new line-up including Lulu, Nancy Dell'Olio and Jason Donovan, this year is bound to be as exciting as the last, and Tonioli is looking forward to the comedy acts just as much as the competitive ones.

"I don't think the comedy contestants undermine the competition at all. The point of it is that the show should be open to everyone. Some people that you think would be brilliant are not, and people you think are going to be terrible are brilliant. I think the charm is having a great variety of characters and seeing what happens once we've put them all together," he said.

He also thinks this series is going to be better than ever - especially as it's the first since host Bruce Forsyth got his knighthood.

"It will be too fabulous," Tonioli said.

"It's going to be the golden season. Last year was the best we ever had. But we're really keen to build on that achievement and make it even more exciting and more glamorous and more sexy, and finally there'll be Sir Bruce - we'll be almost royal!"

PA

Anton Du Beke: 'Strictly Celebrities Are Terrible'

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Strictly Come Dancing star Anton du Beke said he had forgotten how "terrible" the show's celebrity contestants were until he started rehearsals with his partner, Nancy Dell'Olio.

The dancer, who was famously paired with former MP Ann Widdecombe in last year's show, is working with Dell'Olio ahead of next weekend's show.

He said: "Always when I do this I forget how terrible the celebrities really are because all I remember is how they finished in the series and I forget the pain at the beginning but they pick it up."

Half of the celebrities will make their debuts in next Friday's show, with a second group, including du Beke and Dell'Olio, taking to the floor the following night.

Dell'Olio admitted feeling the "pressure" of getting ready for the big night, but du Beke said he had an idea for a "big finish" to impress the judges.

He said: "It's all right, it's good, you know. I've got some choreography that I've put down and it's about two-thirds of the dance and I've got an idea for a big finish but that remains to be seen how that goes."

PA

Video interview: Strictly Come Dancing - Audley Harrison and Natalie Lowe BBC

Oh Edwina! Currie stuns Strictly Come Dancing viewers by accidentally displaying her bottom... AFTER her performance

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MailonSunday

Strictly told to sex down routines

'Strictly Come Dancing' has been been told to tone down its raunchy dance routines.

BBC bosses are said to have vetoed moves in the routines of both Alex Jones and James Jordan, and Jason Donovan and Kristina Rihanoff.

It's also reported that Audley Harrison's wife was unhappy with some of the moves in his routine with Natalie Lowe, and had some of them cut.

In other news, the show has already experienced a drop in ratings following the launch show on Friday night.

500,000 viewers switched off for the Saturday night show, which drew in 7.5 million compared to the previous night's 8 million

Yahoo

Alex Jones talks about her secret new man and why he might be the One



AS Alex Jones swirls around the Strictly studio in readiness for tonight’s foxtrot, there seems to be an extra spring in her quickstep.

Of course, that could simply be down to the extra hours of expert tutorial from her dance partner James Jordan since last week’s nerve-racking opener.

But more likely it’s all thanks to a mysterious City worker called Charlie, who Alex has been dating on the quiet for the past four months.

Mirror

------------------- Nancy, you danced as if you had drunk two gallons of champagne:

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DailyMail

Exposed: Jason started secret training sessions months before show started! PEOPLE

Strictly Come Dancing, Or: The Nancy Dell’Olio Show!

After last week’s prancing about for no real reason, this week Strictly is gaining some tiny, pathetic little morsel of a purporse in this meaningless world. Yes, this week on Strictly, they remembered that it’s a competition and got round to actually throwing someone off.

Before they got dancing though, Bruce had to do an impression of a drunken camp dinosaur. We’ve no idea why, but what we do know is that that was the last point in the show where we bothered paying attention to him.

Edwina Currie attempted to be a cougar who danced the foxtrot. Imagine. A cougar and fox hybrid! Anyway, she purred at the camera and a nation threw up in unison (thousands drowned in sick) and her routine featured huge amounts of sitting down and a ridiculous daft grin like she’s been hit in the face with an axe. It was apparently set in a café. You know? Where all that dancing goes on?

HecklerSpray

Strictly axe falls on ex-tennis pro

Former professional tennis player Dan Lobb has been served up an ace by fans of Strictly Come Dancing who voted him off the BBC1 contest.

The 39-year-old and his partner Katya Virshilas found themselves in the bottom two of the celebrity contest after scoring 24 points from 40 with their Viennese Waltz.

They were joined in the bottom two by Nancy Dell'Olio, the former girlfriend of ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, and her partner Anton Du Beke.

On Saturday, the couple scored just 20 points with their tango in which Dell'Olio, according to judge Craig Revel Horwood, looked like a "plodding mule".

She and Du Beke languished at the bottom of the Strictly leaderboard and looked set to pack their sequins and feather boas away, but Lobb, a breakfast television presenter, got the push.

LocalGuardian