±«Óãtv

Nearly 400 fans of Strictly Come Dancing came to ±«Óãtv Television Centre yesterday to be filmed dancing for a new ±«Óãtv One ident.

The fans responded to the ±«Óãtv's invitation to learn a special routine created by Strictly favourite Karen Hardy, and braved the November cold to dance in the iconic doughnut at the centre of Television Centre.

The fans enjoyed a day of behind-the-scenes Strictly experiences, including appearances by series two winner Darren Gough, last year's contestant and former EastEnder Ricky Groves, current season evictees Paul Daniels and Peter Shilton, as well as Strictly dancers Erin Boag, Kristina Rihanoff and Jared Murillo. In an extra special surprise for the fans, Joe Calzaghe came along to dance with Kristina Rihanoff.

Fans queued from early morning to be amongst the first to enter ±«Óãtv Television Centre, where they also enjoyed backstage tours of the iconic studios, currently celebrating their 50th Anniversary.

The special routine choreographed for the ident by Karen Hardy was made available on the and the Strictly Come Dancing pages on Facebook and YouTube, and hundreds practised the routine in advance to be able to dance in perfect coordination for the ident.

A giant crane suspended a camera at 50 metres over the centre of Television Centre to capture the public as they danced around the doughnut. The ident will be premiered on Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two with a story about "the making of" in the next couple of weeks and then premiere on ±«Óãtv One on the evening of Saturday 20 November.

The day's activities followed five regional events in Edinburgh, Leeds, Plymouth, Swansea and Norwich where local dance schools taught the Karen Hardy routine to members of the public at ±«Óãtv Big Screen events. Strictly fans were invited to apply for tickets to the filming of the ident online, with nearly 20,000 applications received.

Notes to Editors

Strictly Come Dancing is available on ±«Óãtv One and ±«Óãtv HD.

Strictly Come Dancing holds several awards including a National Television Award for Most Popular Talent Show voted for by members of the British Public in 2008, and an RTS Award for Best Entertainment Programme.

The show appears in the Guinness World Records 2010 as the world's most successful reality television format, and it is estimated that more than a quarter of a billion people have watched an international version of the show since its launch.

Don't forget you can get all the up-to-date gossip on Strictly Come Dancing's sister show It Takes Two, weekdays at 6.30pm on ±«Óãtv Two.

For more information and gossip follow us and and visit the ±«Óãtv's .

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