Kat Power

Sep 13, 2023 by Rob

Strictly’s pre-recorded launch show will air on BBC1 at 6.35pm on Saturday night. Thanks to the Digital Spy Strictly Spoiler, we know this year’s pairings ahead of time. If you would prefer to watch the show in blissful ignorance, stop reading now.

Amanda & Giovanni – 25-1 – This is undoubtedly a positive for Amanda given Giovanni’s excellent track record, making four finals and winning in 2021 paired with Rose Ayling-Ellis. Amanda, 51, has a performance background and was taught ballet as a teenager. She describes herself as ‘incredibly competitive’ which should be music to Giovanni’s ears as he will be delighted to be given a partner prepared to graft in the training studio and who is likely to possess some natural dance ability.

Angela R & Kai – 12-1 – Since Kai’s impressive debut series in 2021, making the final with AJ Odudu, only for them to miss it due to an AJ injury, Kai has looked a ‘when’ rather than an ‘if’ he wins Strictly. Angela, 79 next month, is a BBC legend and a former host of Come Dancing, remembered fondly by older viewers for dancing on The Morecambe & Wise Show all those years ago now.

She can still do the splits, has already been seen demonstrating her Charleston skills in an early preview VT, and Angela is expected to be a solid technician. Her series run could be boosted by a potential feel-good narrative as a golden oldie, trying to defy all the age stats, the charming Kai on hand to aid her progress.

Layton & Nikita – 6-1 – Layton, 28, is probably the biggest ringer in the show’s history as a professionally-trained dancer and West End performer. Nikita has done well since joining Strictly in 2021 and TPTB are probably seeking to leverage off his popularity to help propel Layton. A same sex male couple remains a tough sell to Strictly’s core audience. Layton looks set to start the series with a bang as the intel suggests a samba for him in week 1.

Krishnan & Lauren – 66-1 – Krishnan, 53, has been keen to downplay his chances in revealing he is unfit, overweight and has a heart condition. One of the series lesser lights in terms of dance ability, pro newcomer Lauren Oakley is tasked with trying to turn Krishnan into a potential cult, Jeremy Vine-type contestant. Lauren should be knocking on Katya’s door for ideas as she showed how to do it last year paired with Tony Adams.

Eddie and Karen – 25-1 – Eddie, 40, is a little known British-Congolese DJ, comedian and actor. His profile is vaguely reminiscent of Hamza’s last year, and paired with the widely-liked Strictly veteran, Karen Hauer, who has never won the show heading into her 12th season, there is scope for Eddie to be one of this series’s biggest surprises. An Afrobeats routine could well be on the cards when they come to play their Couple’s Choice joker.

Angela S & Carlos – 6-1 – County Meath-born Angela, 39, has a touch of the Blarney Stone about her and toured as part of an Irish dancing troupe 20 years ago. If you are looking for the classic Stacey Dooley/Helen Skelton prototype, Angela S ticks a good few boxes, and has the right sort of BBC brand to prove popular with viewers.

Carlos made the final last year in his first season, paired with the ringer-level Molly Rainford who still needed 4 dance-off saves. Carlos’s choreo skills were pretty impressive last year, Molly never dipping below 30 across the entire series. A bigger question is whether or not he and Angela gel well enough together to charm the audience.

Zara & Graziano – 12-1 – Ex-Love Island contestant, Zara, 26, is already defying the odds in being on the show after TPTB previously intimated they would never dredge from that particular reality tv pond, and Craig Revel Horwood went on record as saying there was no place for talentless Love Island fame-seekers on Strictly.

The twist in this particular plot is, Zara has since gone on to forge a career for herself at the BBC, fronting serious documentary series on BBC3. On paper, she looks voting poison but she is expected to have strong dance ability and paired with Graziano this looks a partnership with a lot of potential va-va-voom when they hit the dance-floor together. Graziano’s stock is definitely on the rise after an impressive run to the last 6 with Kym Marsh last year.

Adam & Luba – 16-1 – Waterloo Road actor, Adam, 34, from Manchester, finished 3rd in I’m A Celebrity… back in 2016. He has a few parallels with Will Mellor last year in that Adam’s wife is also a trained dancer and runs her own dance school. Not only that but you sense Adam knows how to play the reality tv game and has already been playing the sympathy card telling The Sun about his diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

When Will wasn’t highlighting his knee troubles last year, it was a case of buzzword bingo with him about being a complete novice dancer at series-start, embracing the journey, not wanting to let Nancy or his family down, and having the time of his life.

Expect the same sort of stuff in spades cascading from Adam’s lips as he attempts the role of Northern cheeky chappy, seeking to endear himself to the audience. The likeable Luba has never got beyond week 3 and if Adam can negotiate the first few weeks he does have some journey potential.

Nikita & Gorka – 28-1 – Nikita, 28, has a low profile at series start as the presenter of the breakfast show on BBC Asian Network. Unearthing a few clips of her on social media, Gorka looks like having his work cut out.

Gorka made the final last year with Helen Skelton but you sense that was probably his one and only chance of ever winning Strictly, with Nikita likely lacking the core ability Helen possessed. A Week 1 waltz for Nikita at least offers the window for an easy dance to look vaguely competent at, guided around the floor by Gorka.

Jody & Jowita – 66-1 – Defending champion Jowita appears to have been given the toughest of tasks in attempting to do an Oti and win back-to-back Glitterball trophies paired with Paralympian swimmer and cyclist, Jody, 44. He has had his right leg amputated below the knee, and uses an artificial limb. Jody has at least come across as refreshingly self-deprecating in his intro VT in suggesting his dancing is like David Brent’s in that infamous episode of The Office.

In one season, Jowita proved herself not only a brilliant teacher and choreographer but utterly charming in interview. Jody is going to need all that she brings to the table, and more, to have any chance of progressing to the business end.

Ellie & Vito – 25-1 – Ex-Coronation Street actress Ellie, 22, recently split from her boyfriend so we could see a convenient ‘showmance’ confected between her and Vito. In her Breakfast introduction interview Ellie amusingly claimed not to be a trained dancer before going on to reveal, when she was younger, she was taught tap, ballet, modern and Street dance.

Vito did well in his first series last year making the final with Fleur via four dance-off saves. Ellie (1.55m) is even smaller than Fleur (1.61m) who had that big hair to make up the height deficit with Vito (1.8m). Ellie has jive in week 1 which is a tough assignment but could suit her diminutive frame, and see her make an impactful start.

Bobby & Dianne – 7-2 – The bookmakers have installed Bobby as their favourite to win this year ahead of week 1. You can envisage him carrying a fair amount of good will among viewers at the outset given his mum, Jade Goody, died tragically young of cancer.

Bobby, 20, is an Eastenders actor, and a model. The difficulty younger Strictly contestants face is, a lack of relatability with the core audience. Dianne will be hoping Bobby can develop into a Joe Sugg mark II, Joe’s final appearance in 2018 remaining Dianne’s best result in six seasons on the show. Dianne is still with Joe which may limit the sparks between her and Bobby.

Bobby could have an under-stated start to the series if the early intel pointing to CCC in week 1 for him is correct. This is invariably difficult to excel at, but always a good one to get out of the way early in the series run, and can be used to conveniently tee up a journey.

Nigel & Katya – 6-1 – Nigel has formal dance training lurking in his past and a performance background. A former Eastenders actor, now in Casualty, Nigel, 50, looks a good fit with the voting audience and couldn’t have asked for a better pro partner than Katya.

Katya won back in 2017 paired with Joe McFadden and has forged a reputation as one of the show’s best teachers and most original choreographers. Here’s one of many memorable Katya routines from the archives:

She hasn’t been handed a celeb partner with as much potential since Joe, and will be cock-a-hoop at the prospect of whipping Nigel into shape.

Annabel & Johannes – 18-1 – Annabel, 57, has been busy covering the US tennis Open in the last two weeks and unless Johannes travelled to New York she could have missed out on some important training time.

Annabel’s husband recently passed away which offers some automatic good will. She also appears to have perfect middle England, Daily Telegraph-reading appeal as someone familiar to the BBC audience as a mainstay on its Wimbledon coverage each year.

She did ballet when she was younger and now helps her daughter run a tennis and yoga retreat in the Algarve. Yoga could be crucial in terms of creating the core strength dancing requires.

You can imagine Annabel looking very glamorous dancing ballroom. The worry would be, the fast Latins. Johannes helped Ellie Taylor make the last 6 last year despite her fast Latin fallibility and that could prove a similar sort of ceiling for Annabel.

Les & Nancy – 66-1 – Top of the list of main suspects to be teed up as this year’s comedy duffer has to be Les, 69, who has been more than willing to take the mickey out of himself previously, especially in that superb episode of Extras.

Show business veteran Les should be wily enough to realise his best approach to Strictly will be to ham it up, and his panto experience could prove invaluable. It will be down to Nancy and whether she is clever enough with her choreo to enable Les to entertain viewers but he definitely has scope for a run, of sorts, as an endearing underdog if he throws himself into it with the requisite gusto.

A good few unexpected pairings this year but perhaps the biggest shock is the highly talented Nadiya Bychkova, after five seasons on the show including a 5th place finish in 2021 paired with Dan Walker, missing out on a celebrity partner. This seems a strange and unwarranted decision by TPTB.

As usual, it will be all eyes peeled to the group dance which closes Saturday night’s launch show, and prepare for the traditional market over-reactions. The first live show will follow on September 23, before we find out who has earned the wooden spoon the week after on September 30. William Hill is leading the way with a 1st elimination market.

If following the template set down in previous years, some key Strictly dates to look out for should be Week 3 (Movie Week), Week 6 (Halloween Week), Week 9 (Blackpool Week) and Week 11 (Musicals Week), ahead of the final on December 16.

During this year’s series, we will again run an exit poll, starting in week 2, asking who got your vote. And also look out for training room/studio rehearsal montages, with each week’s music edited over footage, helping to paint a picture of who’s set to shine on the Saturday night dance-floor.