Christmas Special Line-Up

The BBC have announced the participants for this year's Strictly Christmas Special, all of whom are former participants from the main series.

Denise Lewis, Series 2 finalist
Gethin Jones, Series 6 semi-finalist
Pamela Stephenson, Series 8 finalist
Frankie Bridge, Series 12 finalist
Ainsley Harriott, fourth eliminated in Series 13
Melvin Odoom, first eliminated in Series 14

Professional partners are still to be announced.

I can only assume that Melvin was included because some felt his departure was unjust, due to Anastacia's failure to perform in the dance-off. Ainsley was popular with the public, and all of the others were successful in their respective series.