Strictly line up 2017

It’s that time of year when the Strictly line up 2017 has been announced!

We’ve been getting drip fed celebs for the last few weeks, but we’re finally there with the full line up of 15 celebrities who are ready to step on to the dancefloor.

The range of celebs this year is again wide, from soap starts to sports stars, though there’s less emphasis on the sporting greats this year, who’ve usually been hot contenders.

One to watch for us is certainly going to be Jonnie Peacock – Paralympian T44 100m gold medallist legend.  It’s great to see a Paralympian make the main show, but he’s not the first on the Strictly dance floor.

We’ve seen Paralympians grace the floor in a one-off Sports Relief episode in 2014 with blind footballer David Clark, wheelchair racer Hannah Cockcroft, former World Champion javelin thrower Nathan Stephens and sitting volleyball player Martine Wright.  It was great then to see wheelchair dancers and indeed Hannah Cockcroft took the glitterball on that occasion.

We also had People’s Champion Strictly when Cassidy Little, took the crown – a below the knee amputee just like Jonnie, so does this bode well?  We’ll have to wait and see.

It will be interesting to see if Jonnie learns from Cassidy’s story and uses a blade rather than a prosthetic leg for dancing, or a mix depending on the discipline – ballroom or latin.  We’d suspect a prosthetic leg might work better in ballroom while a blade would allow more bounce and action in latin.

We’ll be following closely after the reveal show, but for now, here are a few of our favourites to watch out for.

Alexandra Burke – no stranger to dancing given her pop and musical stage career.

Debbie McGee – a child ballet dancer before starring alongside her late husband, magician Paul Daniels.

Aston Merrygold – pop idol used to popping his moves on the concert stage.

We’ll also be watching to see how ballroom legend Shirley Ballas falls into place in her new role as head judge, replacing Len Goodman.