Strictly Come Dancing exploded back onto our TV screens tonight as this year’s celebrities found out who they would be dancing with over the course of the series.
The launch show kicked off with another spectacular routine that gave us our first glimpse of this year’s pro dancers in action. The routine started to Dancing in the Street before moving onto The Locomotion. The opening routine ended at the Strictly Red Carpet launch and showed off this year’s celebrities for the first time.
This was followed by a routine in the studio to a mix of Let’s Get Loud and Uptown Funk. The pro dancers were joined in their routine by the judges – Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.
Musical guests tonight were American jazz vocalist Gregory Porter singing Puttin’ on the Ritz and Jess Glynne with her new single Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself.
Reigning champions Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev also returned to perform for one last time.
Jess Glynne also sang the show out with her hit Hold My Hand as the celebrities and pro dancers took to the floor together for the first time for the group dance.
Tess and Claudia revealed the celebrities pro partners over the course of tonight’s launch show and now the couples have three weeks to train hard ahead of the first live shows of the series.
The female celebrity pairings are:
- Helen George and Aljaž Skorjanec
- Jamelia and Tristan McManus
- Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice
- Kirsty Gallacher and Brendan Cole
- Anita Rani and Gleb Savchenko
- Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton
- Katie Derham and Anton Du Beke
- Carol Kirkwood and Pasha Kovalev
The male celebrity pairings are:
- Ainsley Harriott and Natalie Lowe
- Iwan Thomas and Ola Jordan
- Jay McGuiness and Aliona Vilani
- Jeremy Vine and Karen Hauer
- Anthony Ogogo and Oti Mabuse
- Daniel O’Donnell and Kristina Rihanoff
- Peter Andre and Janette Manrara
Strictly Come Dancing will return for the first of its live shows on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th September 2015 on BBC One.
