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Strictly Come Dancing will be back for a 7th season on SABC3 very soon.
A 7th season of Strictly Come Dancing on SABC3 will be announced very soon following the successful revival of the international dance floor format show on South African television after the on-screen comeback of the Rapid Blue produced show which jumped from SABC2 to SABC3 for a 6th season.
The 6th season which just concluded with Zakeeya Patel and Ryan Hammond taking the glitter ball home, saw real-life love blossom between two pairs of contestants: the winning couple Zakeeya Patel and Ryan Hammond who are very much in love, as well as Expresso presenter Graeme Richards and dance instructor Lindsey Muckle who also found love on the dance floor.
"Season seven of Strictly Come Dancing is coming soon," says Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager. "This is the first year for the show on SABC3."
Risuna Mayimele says Strictly Come Dancing will "come back very soon". "I know that it was around five years where there was no Strictly Come Dancing [on South African television] but it will be back very soon because it has been very successful for the channel."
"From the reaction from viewers we've clearly been sorely missed and I'm so glad to be back on air. And I hope to be back on air with a new 7th season soon," said Kee-Leen Irvine, the managing director of Rapid Blue and the executive producer of Strictly Come Dancing.
Besides Strictly revived on SABC3, Rapid Blue is responsible for new seasons of TV hits SA's Got Talent on e.tv as well as Come Dine with Me South Africa on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel.
At SABC3's Strictly Come Dancing afterparty held on Thursday night at Kong in Rosebank, contestant Damon Kalvari trashed the amateur new 24-hour TV channel ANN7 (DStv 405) in his speech, saying he was approach by an ANN7 presenter and camera team "calling me Mister De Niro" and imploring "GuptaTV", as the mistake-riddled news channel on DStv has become known, "to please continue to make us laugh".
Following her dazzling win, Zakeeya Patel immediately fell in on set with her new on-screen role in SABC1's new political TV drama series End Game which will broadcast from October for 13 episodes. Ryan Hammond isn't sleeping in either.
"I'm starting a new show in Durban in the Playhouse called Shall We Dance?, there's 80 in the cast and its for 11 days. Then I'll be teaching at our studio in Pretoria and that's what I usually do - I teach a lot of couples for their weddings and young champions to be professionals, and doing some corporate work."
The happy dance couple both had advice for contestants of the upcoming 7th season of Strictly Come Dancing on SABC3.
"I would say to the professionals make sure you have a good team behind you," says Ryan Hammond. "The team is important. Don't be scared to ask and don't be too proud to ask other people for assistance and advice."
"You need the support of your family and your team. To the celebrities I would say you really need to trust your professional partner. That was the secret of Zakeeya's success. She allowed me to put my vision into practice and she trusted me with everything and you need to trust your professional partner," says Ryan Hammond.
Zakeeya Patel's advice to celebrities forming part of the new season is "work hard. Keep your head down and your eye on the prize and it's yours."
