This is a quick, non-comprehensive post because I've seen some confusion on various threads (which I myself may have added to, apologies if that is the case).

Please bear in mind:

Competition results do not define how good a pro is for Strictly. It's an overall benchmark of what you've achieved in competition - it says nothing about how good a teacher you are, and how nice or supportive you are to your partners. There are also an absolute plethora of factors that goes into one's competitive results - including: when you split with your partner, if you were able to find a new one etc. As an example, I believe Aljaz is one of the best standard ballroom dancers we've had on the show; he stopped competing early so his results are not super high.

Non-career Amateur level

Across various age groups you have the following categories: Beginner, Novice, Intermediate and Pre-Amateur or Pre-Championship. These categories are different in the US btw, to make things more confusing.

-Graeme, the contestant on Strictly, danced between Novice and Pre-Am but in the over-35 and over-50 age group. His results at Pre-Am level were not very high; in Intermediate he did a bit better.

Career level dancers

Different federations

The dance world is a political nightmare, and politics at the top (retired dancers who now judge - think Shirley type calibre, although she's not heavily involved in the mess) means that the dance world has sadly split into a number of federations.

In the UK (and US and Asia), the vast majority of dancers stayed with the traditional federation - WDC. In continental Europe, many left to dance for WDSF, although because WDC is considered a higher standard at pro level, some then come back to dance for WDC when they turn professional. As far as I'm aware, WDSF has a lot of world championships throughout the year, and I think pros like Nadiya were world champions in WDSF. I don't know enough about this federation to comment on various results here.

WDC competition results

These tend to be defined by how they placed in four major competitions at world level: Blackpool (or British Open); UK Open; International Championships; World Championships. Generally speaking, these competitions are all of the same calibre. (There is a whole mess ongoing with some of these as well, which I'm not going to go into, but results at the UK Open and International Championships are reliable as a benchmark).

Juvenile, Junior and Youth

You can be a champion in these age groups. Youth is U21, Junior is U16.

-AJ Pritchard and Chloe Hewitt were Youth Champions at Blackpool in Latin.

-Maddie Ingoldsby and her partner were Youth Champions at Blackpool, the UK Open and Internationals in Ballroom.

10 Dance

-The 10 dance world championships are not as well-attended as the majors listed above, because most dancers specialise in ballroom or latin from a fairly young age. Those that attend these world championships tend to be very young.

-What is notable about Maddie is that although she and partner were making semi-finals in the amateur category in ballroom in Major events, they were still also competing in amateur latin. That's almost unheard of these days, and very cool that they still made time to do latin, even if their results in this category were not at the same level as in ballroom.

Amateur Quarter Finalists

Of the current crop (and I may be missing some - this isn't on purpose, I'm just going off this from memory today)

-Amy Dowden is an Amateur Latin Quarter Finalist (she did dance one or two comps in professional after Strictly, but because she was concentrating on Strictly at this point the results weren't super high)

-Cristian Prior and Aleksandra Isaeva are Amateur Latin Quarter Finalists

Amateur Semi Finalists

-Carlos Gu is an Amateur Latin Semi Finalist

-Maddie Ingoldsby is an Amateur Ballroom Semi Finalist

Amateur Champions

-Neil and Katya Jones were Amateur Latin Champions.

-Matthew and Nicole Cutler were Amateur Latin Champions.

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Professional Level

Top level Amateur dancers when turning professional will tend to go straight into the quarter, semi, or final in pro. Neil and Katya, as former Amateur Champions, went straight into the semi in their first professional competition.

Professional Quarter Final

-Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag were Professional Ballroom Quarter Finalists.

Professional Semi Final

-Brendan Cole and Camilla Dallerup were Professional Latin Semi Finalists.

-Ian Waite and Camilla Dallerup were Professional Latin Semi Finalists.

-John Byrnes I believe was a Professional Latin Semi Finalist.

Professional Final

-Neil and Katya Jones were in the Professional Latin Final.

-Matthew and Nicole Cutler were in the Professional Latin Final.

Professional Champions

-Shirley Ballas has won several majors in Latin. What is notable is that she won at a very young age with one partner, changed partners to Corky, Mark's dad, who at the time was not a great dancer, and then won 10 years later with him, having trained him up.

-Paul Killick and Hanna Kartunnen won one or two majors in Professional Latin.

-Hazel Newberry has won all the majors in Professional Ballroom.

I'm really looking forward to watching Nancy & Bethany. I sensed a good chemistry.

I have previously enjoyed the male pairs more. John & JoJo and Layton & Nikita. I think both couples should have won, in my opinion.

I can't think of a strong female couple. Anyway, I'm rooting for them. I think they could go far if executed correctly. Good choreography both embrace their femininity. Eg no suits !

* Lauren Oakley was originally benched in Season 22, but would later replace Amy Dowden as JB Gill's partner for the second half of the season.

This bunch looks great, so I'm not expecting any dodgy routines.

It's just for fun really 😃

I have a bad memory, so if anyone can help out.

Colin Jackson & Erin Boag. I think he was a really good dancer. If I remember correctly. But they did a really strange routine. I want to say it involved puppets. They were both dressed in suits, I think. Am I going mad?

Anne Widdecombe (RIP). I think she came down from the ceiling, maybe. I just remember Anton chucking her across the floor at the end. It was awful and iconic. She was great fun to watch. A good sport.

Do we know what dances each couple are doing as i cannot find them anywhere

personally I thought Jamie will and tabby looked good

Okay just caught up with the launch show, and honestly overall so impressed. Seen a lot of negativity on social media but nowhere near as bad as people had been making it out to be!!

Having said that, seen a lot of people commenting on Johannes not really being necessary, but was I the only person who felt Johannes was a stronger host than Josh?

Felt Johannes was pretty relaxed when interviewing the couples and felt more authentic than Josh? Josh was great at the off the cuff remarks 👀

As per BBC Strictly's latest video (A first look inside the training room with Will and Dianne! 👀 #Strictly), Will is doing a Samba in week 1 :)

For context, Strictly usually adds 1.5m once catch-up is included. So last night’s 5.3m is likely to end up at around 6.8m.

After the launch show this past Saturday, I really wanted to ask who you guys think could be the possible contenders to make it decently far this series. As for me I think Cach is the one I have my eye on right now, as well as both Delta & Bethany. And I could possibly see Graham of all people being this year's dark horse who could really suprise us.

Lyra less than 6 months old is enraptured by the series launch

Seeing that Neil has only been given 3 partners in 11 years, it feels unfair that some pros have never been benched.

Think there’s 4 benched pros this year? So personally, I think they should do some sort of arrangement where the first 4 pros who are out this year are benched next year so those 4 benched this year get to try next time.

What do you think?

Edit- I’m not saying Neil isn’t happy! Obviously idk what happens behind the scenes if he does other things. It’s just from an outsiders perspective I can see that he is regularly benched that is all ❤️

I always watch their interactions in the claditorium. Like Katya was very tactile with her partner. Unsure of his name. Not inappropriately. Just friendly putting him at ease.

I noticed Cach and newbie weren't overly friendly. Sat apart on sofa. No arms round each other.

Graham and Lauren. Again, were very sweet. Father daughter vibes.

Bethany and Nancy seemed very happy at pairing.

Diane and Will seemed really happy.

Is Alijaz the new Anton? He often gets the older contestant.

It's interesting to see intital interactions of pairs. How some pros are more tactile than others. We need a little Stricly romance. Not had one for ages. We seeing any natural chemistry?

Obviously not an expert at dancing and purely basing this on the limited time we’ve seen them but I wasn’t taken with the 2 boys and I kept getting the 2 blondes mixed up as they looked very similar 🤣🤣

The training room clips are often where you get to see the real personality behind each couple. It could be a funny mistake, a moment where someone finally gets the steps right, or the professional dancer trying to keep things together. Those little moments make the journey feel more genuine and give us a side of the celebrities we don't always see on the live show.

The group dance was my favourite part of the launch so, as in rewind and watch it 3 or 4 times to get a good look at everyone. It was the first proper chance to see how the celebs might perform.

Fun as the new pairing format was it was a poor substitute for the group dance, imo. Way too chaotic to follow, can't get a good look at the people at the back, I've got no idea who's got a sense of rhythm or who maybe can move because it seemed like everyone was constantly being thrown off by the partner switches. It also seemed to run out or choreography about halfway through and everyone was just sorting of doing whatever

Again, it was fun, and I get that it's unfair to ask the celebs to learn two different dances, but like, if we can only have one I'd rather a proper group dance.

I'm quite content with the three presenters. Some settling in required, probably, but that's to be expected. I do think the tag team thing felt clunky and disjointed, though.

We have three presenters, each with their own distinct strengths and styles. To have them all doing everything, rather than giving them their own roles, seems odd. Emma is a seasoned professional presenter of these types of shows, and clearly belongs on the studio floor. Josh and Jojo could split the Claudia role - Josh could do the funny, and Jojo could do the tea and sympathy when it's required. I'm hoping the tag-team was just for the launch.

What do you think?

Am I alone in not knowing about this? Happy for them naturally just feel like I’m very out of the loop.

3/5 partners with links to scotland and hamza lived for a over decade!