Sixteen couples will take part in this year's Strictly Come Dancing - but only eight will dance in Week 1, with the other eight couples dancing in Week 2.

Following the random draw, the following eight couples will now dance in Week 1 of Strictly Come Dancing:

Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna

Lynda Bellingham & Darren Bennett

Joe Calzaghe & Kristina Rihanoff

Ricky Groves & Erin Boag

Martina Hingis & Matthew Cutler

Chris Hollins & Ola Jordan

Jade Johnson & Ian Waite

Rav Wilding & Aliona Vilani
Friday 18th September will be Ballroom night, where the first eight of the celebrity contestants and their professional partners will be put through their paces dancing either a waltz or a tango.

Saturday 19th September will be Latin night where things will hot-up even more as the same couples perform a cha-cha or a rumba. At the end of the Saturday show, one of the above eight couples will be eliminated and will leave the show for good.

In the second week of Strictly Come Dancing 2009, the remaining eight couples will participate. Again, there will be two shows, on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th September, and this second group of eight couples will perform a Ballroom dance on one night and a Latin dance on the other.

Natalie Cassidy & Vincent Simone

Richard Dunwoody & Lilia Kopylova

Craig Kelly & Flavia Cacace

Zoe Lucker & James Jordan

Laila Rouass & Anton du Beke

Phil Tufnell & Katya Virshilas

Ricky Whittle & Natalie Lowe

Jo Wood & Brendan Cole

Again, one couple will be eliminated during the Saturday show and will leave the contest for good.

From Week 3, Strictly Come Dancing will revert to one show per week - a bumper show on Saturday evenings (starting Saturday 3rd October). In this show, the 14 remaining couples will come together to compete against each other, and as usual, one couple per week will leave the series.




Good that they had a random draw, instead of males one week and females the other last year.