KEEEEEP DANCING...

Let me introduce to the winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2010... Gavin Henson. Wow, cha cha cha or va va voom when you look at this cheeky little photo.
Some of the celeb names lined up for series 8 of SCD have already been announced. Alongside Gavin Henson (or Chavin as he was known before his recent split with Charlotte Church), is Patsy Kensit, Felicity Kendall, Matthew Wright, GMTV's Penny Smith, Richard Madeley and wait for it... Ann Widdecombe. With Ann and Felicity's signature on board, Anton de Beke and Darren Bennett will no doubt be thinking it's not their turn to win it again this year. 
This year's SCD sees even more changes from the controversy of the last series particularly in the BBC budget. The celeb dancers will be paid on their performance throughout the competition so that the dancers who progress to the finals could earn up to £100k. In the past, celebs such as Martina Hingis received a fee of £50k despite being voted out in the first round. The BBC have revealed that the professional dancers receive only £30,000 per series whilst the judges earn £90,000. And here's the clincher.. Brucie Forsyth has agreed to a 15% pay cut which is good of him considering he's picking up £550k. The phrase money for old rope springs to mind. 
SCD still remains one of my all-time favourite tv shows. Here's some of the reasons why I love it so much..


- The campness. 
- The skill of the dancers and the 'journey' of the celebs.
- It's great all-round family entertainment. 
- Brendan Cole's pairings with models and his yearly hissy fits with the judges.
- The variety of the dancing and blimey, there's been some memorable, show  stopping dance routines - Jill Halfpenny & Darren Bennett's jive, Alesha Dixon & Matthew Cutler's cha cha cha and Mark Ramprakash & Karen Hardy's tango to name but a  few. 
- The dance partnerships that perhaps should have won the series but fell at the last hurdle - Austin Healy & Erin Boag, Colin Jackson & Erin Boag and Ricky Whittle & Natalie Low.
- The awful celeb dancers who painfully keep get voted in - Fiona Phillips, Kate Garraway, John Sargeant and the very deluded Craig Kelly. 
- The ubiquitous romances each series.. Natasha Kaplinsky & Brendan Cole, Joe Calzalge & Kristina Rihanoff and Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna. 
- Claudia Winkleman on SCD It Takes Two..  fresh, edgy and fun. 
- The judges. Len 'SEV-EN' Goodman, Craig 'dahh-ling' Revel-Horwood, Bruno Tonioli are great, but please bring back Arlene Philips. 
- The SCD special from Blackpool's Tower Ballroom... the spiritual home of dancing. Please God I can get tickets this year.  
- The BBC. I don't care what anyone says, the BBC are the mutts nuts are producing quality tv programmes and pull out all the stops for SCD. Visually, it is superb. 


The downside? - Bruce Forsyth of course. It can't be too long 'til Anton de Beke takes over can it? Pleeeeease???