STRICTLY COME DANCING 2024.

[Cleoriff]

It's that time of year again.

@sheepdogcomes out of hibernation to join me and others like @RunrigForever  to comment on BBC's 'flagship' entertainment show. SCD.

I did wonder if it would take place this year as it's had some really bad press recently.

Two of the male professionals, Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Prima have been accused of abusive teaching methods. Giovanni has denied any wrongdoing. Last year he danced with Amanda Abington, who dropped out of the show. Graziano danced with Zara Larsson and he admitted kicking her. He was sacked immediately.

The BBC  have said they will be putting advisors into the training rooms to monitor all training and ensuring the welfare of the celebrities. So away we go again.

It doesn't start until September so I'll be adding to this thread as and when other celebs are revealed.

The first two contestants have been announced;

CHRIS McCAUSLAND - COMEDIAN

Chris is a really funny guy. He's also totally blind. As he said, this should be a laugh. 😂

The next contestant is JB GILL (from the boy band JLS)

[Cleoriff]

I typed this, pressed the wrong button and lost it

Chris and Dianne. American Smooth. Just excellent. Dianne's parents will be here next week. Undermarked by Craig.

Montell and Johannes. Salsa. A bit stompy and I think Montell has lost her spark

Sarah and Vito. Couples Choice. Just wow. You can throw Bob Fosse at me and I'll think it's great. A lot of trust required falling off a table backwards into the other male partner arms.

Wynne and Katya Charleston. Not impressed with this. a bit of a mash up of a charleston, paso and a Morris dance. Overmarked

Pete and Jowita. Cha Cha. I can't imagine Pete Wicks doing 'camp' well at all. He looked silly, knew it and the dance suffered. Had he ripped his shirt off at the end, he may have scored higher.

JB and Lauren. Quickstep. I enjoyed this although agreee his purple suit got him lost with other dancers. Undermarked,

Tasha and Aljaz. Paso Doble. Wow just bloody wow. The best Paso I've seen on SCD for a long time. Simply stunning. Superb music choice.

Jamie and Michelle. Jive. A real poor jive. Posture poor, pigeon toed and a real let down. Overmarked

[Cleoriff]

SUNDAY

Just loved the opening dance by the pro's. Lovely to see so many dancing the Argentine Tango. More please.

PSB's version of All The Young Dudes was great.

Wynne and Katya called first for dance off

and shock/horror, not Pete but Montell and Johannes.

Pete and Jowita were shocked to the core. They thought their time was over 😂

No split vote this week. Wynne was dispatched. I think Montell danced better taking all the judges comments on board.

Yes I said earlier the Samba-thon was back next week. They cruelly showed the last time there was a

dance a thon. Shirley with the scores totally mixed up and Craig laughing his head off. Let's hope they are better organised on Saturday.

That's it folks. Off to watch that superb Paso yet again.

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog @RunrigForever 

Week 10

Dances and Music

Sarah and Vito. Rumba. Music: Chains by Tina Arena

Chris and Dianne. Paso Doble. Music: El Gato Montes by Manuel Penella

Tasha and Aljaz. American Smooth. Music: Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi.

Pete and Jowita. Tango. Music by Easy Lover by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins

JB and Lauren. Charleston. Music by Yes Sir, That's My Baby By Firehouse Five Plus Two

Jamie and Michelle. Foxtrot. Music: Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Montell and Johannes. Quickstep. Music: Get Happy. Ella Fitzgerald.

This is the music for Chris and Dianne's Paso Doble.

If they pull this off, top scores from me!!

[sheepdog]

Sarah and Vito. Rumba. Music: Chains by Tina Arena

Chris and Dianne. Paso Doble. Music: El Gato Montes by Manuel Penella

Woah! Haven't heard Chains for a couple of decades. Slightly dubious lyrics though. Now will Sarah bring out the sensual side or will it be on the edge of a potential dance-off?

Monty the cat as I interpreted it and that's being literal! Wildcat according google translate but what a tune for a paso. Another big score this week and I'd put money down on Chris making the final. But I won't, I have car tax to pay. 

Tasha and Aljaz. American Smooth. Music: Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi.

Pete and Jowita. Tango. Music by Easy Lover by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins

I don't like Lewis Capaldi. Pub singer. Can't see how this AS for Tasha isn't much more of a repeat of her CC. Enough to be safe. 

Really feel sorry for Pete having this ridiculous choice of music for a Tango. No no no. Might as well as done it to Gangnam Style. Bottom two I'm afraid but that might be by design by the producers. 

JB and Lauren. Charleston. Music by Yes Sir, That's My Baby By Firehouse Five Plus Two

Jamie and Michelle. Foxtrot. Music: Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Montell and Johannes. Quickstep. Music: Get Happy. Ella Fitzgerald.

Great choice for JB so he's only got himself to blame if he's lower than 3rd and in the dance-off. However, this is Lauren's party piece so quite safe and another repeat of his samba will make sure he is.

In two minds about Jamie's tune but nah, like Pete's designed to be in the dance-off. Guess it will be down to technique in they are both in the dance-off. 

Montell, well this is a strong contender to be top of the leaderboard. Nothing less than 9's expected. 

As we have the car-crash-a-thon, they are going to add the scores to the main dance to make sure someone Pete-shaped will be guaranteed to be in the dance-off. 

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog @RunrigForever 

On FB there is a guy on one of the Strictly sites, who checks the bookies odds each week.😂

These are the latest:

[sheepdog]

Tess & Claudia in sunday result show outfits. Motsi doing Crystal Tips again with that dress. Hair ok though. Nancy looked like she just came out of er, an establishment for paying gentlemen. Amy Dowden made an appearance on the balcony, obviously the BBC making sure they are getting their moneys worth these days. Tess was rather behind the beat tonight far more than usual. Guess the timing chip in the Tess-bot was malfunctioning. 

Pete and Jowita. Tango. On first and you know what this means. And it is what it meant. Seemed to be at 3/4 speed. Dance-off. Scored 29 which may have been generous. 

Sarah and Vito. Rumba. On the the hand, Sarah was on double speed! Never seen a rumba done this fast which on one hand says "just lets get this over with" and on the other, "lets throw tons of choreography in her so the judges can't breathe to see the faults". I'd go with what Shirley says on the choreography. Judges gave 36 which in a normal week is remarkable but not tonight. 

Chris and Dianne. Paso Doble. March of the Imperial Stormtroopers. A few posture issues but thats not going to be solved and this was Chris giving his all. Timing his forte. Scored 33. 

Jamie and Michelle. Foxtrot. I actually liked this dance on him. Hasn't been paying attention to Shirley's 7P's as he should have have the posture thing sorted out by now. 32 points and a touch overmarked.  Dance-off with Pete and the judges may not save him. 

JB and Lauren. Charleston. Didn't disappoint by a considerable motorway mile. Fantastic routine and midway through you could see it getting better. Great flip up from the floor. Negative: maybe Lauren could have exited the lifts better. Scored 39. 

Montell and Johannes. Quickstep.  And a return to form with a classic no-nonsense Quickstep. Very enjoyable. A highly respectable 37. 

Tasha and Aljaz. American Smooth. Lewis Capaldi is an awful singer and I think by far, the DAO did an interpretation that surpassed the original. As for the routine: Phenomenal. One of those times where if time stood still, you wouldn't have noticed. Scored 40. Was it better than the Paso though? 

Car-crash-a-thon was an tour-de-force of badly positioned cameras and transitions that only the studio audience and judges could view. My goodness, didn't we get a lot of the judges picking their choices. Tasha looked absolutely shattered but still came second. Won by JB and surprisingly Pete wasn't last. That went to Chris. 

So the leaderboard with crash-a-thon scores:

Which means its down to Jamie, Chris and Pete with Sarah the outsider. Neither will beat Sarah as she's got the technique and difficulty on her side. Public vote is with Chris so unlikely to be there this week. 

MMA is the Sugarbabes. Apparently with the original 3 members who had a couple of hits before being systematically replaced and having more success before reforming to the original members and trying to reclaim the glory days of them not being in the group. So give it another year and they'll be on various reality TV shows again. 

[Cleoriff]

Apologies for being late.

Pete and Jowita  Tango. First on which brought the curse with it. I like Pete but the music was awful and he wasn't good at all.

Sarah and Vito. Rumba. I enjoyed this Great choreography. Unusual interpretation.

Chris and Dianne. Paso Doble. Good but I hoped for better. Dianne made sure Chris was rarely out of hold which suited him but disappointed me. Timing great. A lot of marching by Chris.

JB and Lauren. Charleston. Superb dance with lots of lifts. However the judges made no mention of one lift which went wrong. JB clumsy and Lauren had to save herself from falling. For that, I think they were overmarked.

Jamie and Michelle. Foxtrot. Ok routine although a bit stiff and placed.I just can't warm to him at all.

Montell and Johannes. Quickstep. Excellent dance and covered the floor well.

Tasha and Aljaz. American Smooth. What a beautiful dance. Really loved it, tthough I preferred last weeks Paso which deserved a 40 as well.

Sambathon was a real time wasting filler. No more of that nonsense again thanks.

Sugarbabes tomorrow. Not sure which group will turn up as they have changed the line up too often.

Either way, not my cup of tea thanks!

[Cleoriff]

What a beautiful dance between the non dancers and SCD professionals.

The Sugababes were ok.

The two in the dance off are

Jamie and Michelle

Montell and Johannes

(Chris and Pete looked totally shocked)

Montell and Johannes were saved again.

Next week it's Musicals Week.

Tasha and Aljaz are doing an Argentine Tango. Can't wait!)

[sheepdog]

Tess in Christmas office party outfit, Claudia in white slapper dress. Freudian slip, Flapper style. 

Not a fan of interpretative dance but as pro-dancer routine goes, not bad at all. Song was Every HeartBeat by Robyn. 

Oh dear Sugarbabes. Pretty much a tribute act of themselves at the end of a career with one single defining moment that made them famous and not knowing time's up. Practicing would have helped. Could be worse though, there's always Atomic Kitten who might be up for another reunion with Kerri Kantona.  

Guessing the spin of Wheel of Dance-OFF is permanently stuck on Montell. She not getting the votes which was surprising this week. Next week is it Chris or Pete she has to beat or will it be Sarah. 

Does Musical's week feature backing dancers and will we get more of the pathetic CGI intros?

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog 

In all honesty, as much as I love Chris and Pete, I do hope they appear in the dance off next week (Pete anyway) I'm pleased Jamie has gone as he HAS danced before. He won last years Christmas special.

However we are at the stage now where we have Sarah and Vito and Tasha and Aljaz.  Those two are finalists in my opinion. I would like to see Chris there as well.