Line-up revealed for Strictly Come Dancing tour

The first celebrities joining the Strictly Come Dancing 2011 UK Tour have been revealed.

Olympic athlete and series runner up in 2005 Colin Jackson will join last year’s runner up Ricky Whittle, as well as this series’ star dancers: actress Patsy Kensit, psychologist Pamela Stephenson, ex-Coronation Street star Tina O’Brien and ex-EastEnder Kara Tointon. Zoe Ball, who came third in the TV series in 2005, will present the live show, keeping the nation’s favourite judges Len Goodman, Craig Revel-Horwood and Bruno Tonioli in order!

Craig Revel-Horwood will also have responsibility for the show’s look and feel as he takes the role of Director for the first time.

Patsy Kensit said: “I love everything about Strictly; the dancing, the beautiful outfits, the live music and the Tour is going to be absolutely amazing - I’m so glad to be joining it.  It’s going to be incredible performing each night in front of arena sized audiences – hopefully I won’t get too nervous! I’ve been working so hard on my dancing during the TV series so hopefully it will pay off on tour!”

Kara Tointon said: “I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the public support Artem and I have received, or Team Kartem as Bruno calls us! Being on Strictly has been a fantastic experience and I just want to keep dancing for as long as possible which is why I’ve signed up to do the live tour. I’m really looking forward to meeting all the fans and learning some new routines.”

Colin Jackson said: “It was fantastic competing in 2005 and going on to win the Christmas Special in 2006. I haven’t forgotten any of the moves so when I was asked to join the tour I jumped at the chance. It’s going to be a lot of fun but I’m also a very competitive person and I’ll be aiming to win each show on tour!”

Ricky Whittle said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour. I’ve already dug out my sparkly shirts and started practising my dance moves - I’m hoping to give Colin Jackson a run for his money!”

With over 1 million tickets sold over the past three years, the hugely popular and successful UK arena tour returns in 2011 for the fourth consecutive year, opening at Trent FM Arena Nottingham on 14th January. The multi-million pound show will then visit some of the UK’s biggest entertainment venues, playing the Republic of Ireland for the first time with an exclusive four show run at The O2 Dublin.

Audiences will watch the celebrities and professional dancers competing live for the votes of the judges and as with previous years the audience will have the chance to have their say on who wins the coveted glitter ball trophy as their votes are added to the judges’ scores to select the winner at the end of each show. 

Launching at the Nottingham Trent FM Arena on 14th January, the four-week dance spectacular will travel to Motorpoint Arena Sheffield, Wembley Arena, London’s O2, Liverpool’s Echo Arena, The O2 Dublin, The Odyssey in Belfast, The LG Arena at the NEC Birmingham, Manchester Evening News Arena and will finish its run at Glasgow’s SECC on 13th February.  Tickets for all these shows are now on sale.

The eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing is currently being broadcast on BBC1 and is attracting over 9 million viewers a week.  Previous series have all been huge ratings successes, with audiences for the series’ finales reaching over 11 million. The television format, also known as Dancing With The Stars in the USA, entered the Guinness Book of World Records last year as the world’s most successful reality television show and has been sold by BBC Worldwide to over 35 international broadcasters.

Tickets for Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour 2011 are on sale now.

For online bookings please visit: ticketzone.co.uk