Strictly Come Dancing is returning and the contenders include Harry Judd, Robbie Savage, Jason Donovan, Alex Jones and Holly Valance
Another set of C-list stars and ageing sportsmen are limbering up for a spell in the lycra-clad spotlight with the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing on the horizon.
The BBC's alternative to X-Factor has announced the lineup for the 2011 edition and it's the usual mix with the contenders seemingly chosen to fit the series stereotypes we have been primed to expect. As Len Goodman will no doubt say, seveeeen!
So in the attractive, drama school-trained female camp we have Holly Valance, formerly of Neighbours and the (old man alert) pop charts and currently starring in a Fosters advert. Valance - 6.6 to win - will surely come equipped with a pair of fully-functioning dancing feet and more importantly for red-blooded males on the sofas of great Britain, she will presumably look ravishing in any number of tight-fitting outfits the BBC have lined up. Yowser!
Similarly young and female are the One Show's Alex Jones and Chelsee Healey of BBC1's Waterloo Road, and once of Hollyoaks. The pair are 6.4 and 13.0 to win.
Male counterparts to Valance, Healy and Jones come in the shape of Harry Judd and Dan Lobb. Yes, we don't know them either but the former McFly drummer (and F-list star if ever I saw one) and ex-Sky Sports presenter look genuine contenders at 4.4 and 12.0 respectively. Judd has already won a Children in Need SCD special.
This year's big names come in the form of 80s mega-star Jason Donovan and annoying ex-footballer Robbie Savage.
With a long career on the stage, Donovan surely possesses a bit of dash in his step and will have millions of mums willing him on every week. He's a lively contender at his current price of 9.0.
Dodgy tackles won't get you very far in SCD and neither will arguing with the referees (read, judges) and it's easy to imagine Savage possessing two left feet, just as he did on the football pitch. Definitely one to watch before betting at his current price of 17.0.
Another ex-sportsman Audley Harrison is readily written off by the layers, trading at 70.0 (with a lay price of 470.0 but will he be as wooden and lumbering on the dancefloor as he was in the ring? The big man could go further than his price suggests.
Filling the Pamela Stephenson role is Lulu who should retain plenty of moves in her sexagenarian hips. The market isn't taking any chances on the 62-year-old Scottish singer though - pricing her up at 14.0 to win. An outsider with promise, for sure.
After that lot, it's easy to write off Anita Dobson (22.0), Rory Bremner (27.0), Nancy Dell'Olio (42.0) and Edwina Currie (70.0), so we will.
Finally, in the haven't got a hope category we can safely place Russell Grant, who somehow manages to look flat-footed in his 128px × 208px pen pic on the SCD website. The roly-poly astronomer can go deep a la John Sergeant but surely cannot win, whatever the stars tell him.
