So, we’ve all seen the first episode of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing competition and what an extravaganza it was. Immediately, I have to go back on two things I said in my previous post:

1. That I didn’t know any of the contestants this year and was more likely to want to get on with my life than get to know them. But no, no, one show in and I was obsessed.
2. My concerns about Motsi. I still stand by the feeling that the BBC have put themselves in a difficult position having sisters as judge and competitor, but I can see why they’ve taken the risk. Motsi is properly brilliant.

So, having clarified that I loved it, here’s a stream of consciousness as I watched.

Only stand out from the walk down the stairs is just how nervous Anneka looks.

Neil has a partner! At last! Hooray! She gets a kick out of him, apparently. Rolling my eyes at the first dance pun songs.

Karen really is quite scary. Chris Ramsay takes the criticism very well.

Catherine Tyldesley is the first one who I really thought might throw up on the night. Lots of people have said it but I really thought she was going to need that bucket she was talking about. Also, she came across a lot better on this first show than I think she did on the launch show. “If I was to vomit, I would stay in character, and I would vomit in a really loving, romantic way.”

I don’t know Saffron at all, but I quite like that she very quickly turned the tables on AJ and started interviewing him!

I was absolutely terrified by Mike and Katya in the launch show - TOO MUCH ENERGY. And I think this is pretty much the same, to the point where Katya basically kicked him in the face in training. In week 1!

It took me quite a long time to explain to Mr C who Viscountess Emma was but I like that her best friend is a giraffe. It was all very ladylike, her cha cha cha, which is a surprise for someone who knows how to get hands on with a rhino.

James Cracknell was so bad! Bless him, the concentration face was so distracting. He did all the steps in the right order but there was nothing else going on.

Kelvin was incredible! The hips. I was surprised at his intro sequence when he said about the naked Emmerdale scenes. In Emmerdale, he’s never seemed very attractive but now he’s graduated the farm… those hips, the confidence, just a great dance.

Surprised they managed to make Three Lions into a foxtrot but it kinda worked. James was better than I thought he was going to be, and better than Cracknell, but still got a little way to go.

Everyone thought Anton would end up with Michelle, but previous form has shown that Giovanni can work well with the slightly older lady. I quite enjoyed his “We’re going to be a great partnership… I want to go home!” But actually it all seemed to go very well and I loved her dress.

Karim did three tuck jumps live on TV. I am still working on being able to complete one decent tuck jump.

Dev did well but I was not on board with the seventies sweater jumper cardigan shirt vest thing. Build Me Up Buttercup is a tune though.

Anneka did far better than I thought she was going to, after basically saying on the launch show that she’d never moved to music in her life and had something of a phobia of doing so, particularly in public. It wasn’t the best and I don’t think Kevin is in any danger of doing the double but Anneka is so lovely. Stop the Clock! Oh, and how often do they change the words of the songs? I don’t remember it happening before but Anneka instead of Gloria, it kinda worked.

I love Janette, she can do no wrong, and partnered with Will, they’re a pretty formidable team. Inspirational too, already seen the tweets about people feeling represented which is fabulous.

Karim’s actual dance was energetic as expected. I mean, the guy can tuck jump on demand, of course it was.

Anton’s got someone who can actually dance, so it’s one of those years for him!

A very mixed bag of dances, which is just what we like. And now, I have to fight very hard to not also watch all the It Takes Two episodes, listen to all the podcasts, and generally build up to next week’s episode with a Strictly overload every day. I wasn’t convinced I was going to watch this year, but now that I am, I’m all in.