Celebrity fit club

They are some of the best-selling DVDs on the market, but beyond the vaguely famous faces and the thumping music, are celebrity home fitness regimes actually any good? The Guardian's writers to put them to the test.

Latinasize with Lilia Kopylova from Strictly Come Dancing, £17.99

Lilia promises that if you do her exercises you will "lose weight without realising it" so that you can wear "all those dresses with all those stones on them". It's an incentive. What follows, though, is a miserable experience. We begin with the least rigorous warm-up imaginable followed by 10 minutes each of salsa, rumba, cha-cha, samba and jive. It is very dull and my heart rate went up only briefly, doing the jive, which appeared to be the only dance that Lilia enjoyed. Lilia has no connection with the background dancers and there is no banter, just awkwardness. And the camera manages to cut away from her whenever she does a complicated step, so it is tricky to follow. If you love the TV programme, or want to learn basic steps, you might like a look. But if you want to get fit, have a dance down the disco instead. Katharine Viner

For more reviews click here