Strictly Come Dancing is back! The hit show returns to our screens this autumn, and already a host of famous names have been officially confirmed to the 2018 line-up .
And with the likes of Katie Piper, Joe Sugg and Steps star Faye Tozer already signed up, the quivering celebs only have a few weeks to get whipped into shape by their professional dance partners.
But – as with all reality shows – things aren’t always as they seem.
Here are some of the biggest secrets audiences never find out when they’re watching the latest batch of stars stumbling across the dancefloor.
Behind the scenes – beauty and wardrobe
Strictly is known as much for its glowing spray tans as it is for its choreographed dancing – and every single contestant and dancer is subjected to a spritz down with the faux stuff before they hit the floor.
There’s a spray tan booth that comes to the Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, South Herts, every Friday and everyone gets ushered into it for their full-body hose down.
Even BBC staff and producers have been known to pop in to the booth for a quick spritz on their way to meetings.
On the night itself, the backstage areas are a hive of activity as dancers, celebs and their makeup teams race against time to get everyone camera ready.
A large sack of false eyelashes sits in the corner of the makeup room filled to the brim with pristine boxes. Makeup artists get through hundreds of pairs per series, so they have to be within grabbing distance.
As for the glitzy outfits, it’s all hands on deck to get make sure no-one has a wardrobe malfunction.
Celebs are sewn into their costumes shortly before the show, meaning trips to the loo have to be carefully timed – and they’re forbidden from eating from 3pm onwards.
Strictly costume designer Vicky Gill will meet each contestant in the weeks before launch to talk through what they’d like to wear.
"When I first meet a celeb I take along some magazines to look through together; it’s a great way of getting an idea of what their likes and dislikes are, and it is easier for them to refer to an actual garment rather than a sketch," she told the Daily Mail.
Vicky also thoroughly researches each star as soon as they’re announced so she knows their skin tone, body shape and energy.
"The original idea goes through many incarnations before it ends up on Strictly. We make around 200 dresses per series and each has to be different," she confessed.
Vicky and her team like to have three or four dresses made for each celebrity by the time the show launches, but has no idea which concepts producers will throw in each week.
"An elaborate dress should take four days to make but we have been able to do it in two. All-nighters are part and parcel of Strictly," she added.
On the night, of course, it’s all go.
Any sense of awkwardness is chucked out the window as the time pressures mean the pros have to change rapidly between performances – so a ‘modesty curtain’ is rigged up next to the ‘Star Bar’ area for them to whip off their clothes and get the next outfit on.
At the end of the series, the costumes get sold on to dance companies around the world but are never offered to the general public.
How the Strictly judges really score the contestants
The Strictly judging panel – Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas , Darcey Bussell and Bruno Tonioli – actually submit their scores for each dance before giving feedback.
To give the graphics team backstage enough time to cue up the on-screen score, each judge will input their number into the hidden keypad on their desk while the dance duos are approaching.
They’ll then give their feedback and pick their paddles while the dancers are making their way upstairs to Claudia Winkleman’s balcony.
The amazing props
Props master Bobby Warans is tasked with building or sourcing the most outlandish designs each year – but says the hardest things to put together are the ones that look simple on screen.
"Tables and chairs are the bane of my life," he told the Mirror.
"Everyone wants to dance on a table, to dance on a chair, and do they make dining tables to dance on? No.
"Now we’ve got a round table, a square table and an oblong table made out of metal, with metal legs, and we tart them up so they can tap-dance to their heart’s content, knowing they’re not going to fall through it."
Some props are even harder to sort, said Bobby.
"When I was asked to do the cannon [which shot Russell Grant out across the dancefloor in 2011], fortunately I’d done one years ago. We had to measure whether Russell could get in and out easily, because he was quite rotund," he admitted.
And even when the set is fairly simple, it can be jazzed up with some of the "hundreds" of rolls of glitter cloth the props team buy in every year.
"It turns anything crappy into something magical," said Russell.
How are celebrities picked for Strictly Come Dancing?
Strictly is considered the creme de la creme of reality telly – the one every celeb is desperate to do.
As such, it can take a while to get the right line-up in place.
"I am thinking about names throughout the year," talent executive Vinnie Shergill told Radio 5 Live
"I start meeting people from February, March, onwards. I never really enjoy a programme, I’m always thinking, ‘Would he be good on Strictly? Would she be good on Strictly?’
"Some of my favourite bookings have been where we challenge the viewers’ perceptions about them, like Judy Murray .
"I love tennis, and I’d seen her in action, supporting Andy and Jamie. She was purported to be this tiger mom.
"Then when you meet Judy, she is so adorable, she has a wicked sense of humour, she’s very self-deprecating, very humble, and I really liked her when we first met. I think she surprised a lot of people."
On the night
Tickets to sit in the audience for Strictly are like gold dust – there’s only enough room for 600 people to sit, so anyone lucky enough to get emailed about a space should turn up early to Elstree – some start queueing from the morning to guarentee their spot in the studio, as tickets are always oversubscribed.
Ticketholders will then be held in a marquee in the carpark until producers are ready to open the doors. There’s a cash bar and loos there to keep people from getting too bored.
Monitors in the marquee show the previous week’s Strictly episode, and there’s plenty of branded boards around for ticketholders to get those all-important selfies.
Before going into the studio, everyone has to hand over their phone for safekeeping – no pictures or unofficial filming is allowed inside.
Tess Daly and Claudia will come out around 20 minutes before the cameras start rolling to rehearse their lines and joke with the audience.
As for the nervous celebs, anyone with a particularly tricky name can rest assured – all the presenters have the names spelled out phonetically on their autocue to save blushes.
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*Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBCOne this autumn
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