Strictly 2021

[sheepdog]

So Strictly come Dancing is back this autumn with a new old judge (Anton du Beke), a new old presenter for It takes Two (Jenette Manrara), four new pro's who won't be involved and obviously even less money than ever before!

First three of the bottom of the barrel scrapings are:

Tom Fletcher - ex boyband member now writing children's books

Robert Webb - slightly creepy comedian looking for work

AJ Odudu - obligatory "Who's that, never heard of her"

Also there are 15 people defined as celebs this year. I'm half expecting Kathryn Ryan to be involved as she seems to be on every other program for no reason. Also no Blackpool week either. 

Sadly, looks like were stuck with the un-dynamic duo of Daly & Winkleman.

[Cleoriff]

Rose and Giovanni. Foxtrot. Really excellent foxtrot. Simple but beautiful. Scored 36.

Ugo and Oti. Couples Choice. Very good, I enjoyed it. Great lifts. Scored 31

Tom and Amy. Jive. Well I loved it. One of my favourite dances of the night. Scored 32.

Adam and Katya. Rumba. It was good but not quite a rumba Scored 20

Katie and Gorka. American Smooth. It was ok. I expected a lot more really. Scored 24

Rhys and Nancy. Couples Choice. Very energetic and well performed. Loved it. Scored 37

John and Johannes. Paso Doble. Loved the music of course. Just brilliant. Excellent dance. Loved it Scored 39.

[sheepdog]

I only caught the latter part of the opening routine so er, agree with you with that sentiment @Cleoriff! Not a bad show overall - plus marks for Tess & Claudia in good outfits and bonus marks for not being annoying. Otherwise opening intros to the celebs kind of made me think WTF is this tonight? Motsi's hair reminded me we have Walnut whips in the cupboard.

BBC need to bring out a Barbie Nadiya doll. My pre-order is in 🤣 Shame about Dan but in all honesty, didn't think it was a big mistake. But he made mistakes last week so they are being noticed. Judy throwing shapes but at least she tries to avoid the impending dance-off's. I have a suspicion she may be safe this week.

Sara is heavy footed in the "samberrr". Possibly safe but Princess Fiona wasn't flattering. I said this last year: WTF am I watching with Diane & Robert? WTF was I listening too as well because it was torture (also sung about 3 times). Better than it looked and sounded though. Katie I thought did well after last week - characterisation was excellent - but just lacked a touch of wow and perhaps borderline to staying. 

Adam unfortunately did the Dance of Death and unfortunately looks like an early exit. Maybe has a chance against Greg or Katie but not by very much. Not sure about Greg's chances of avoiding the dance-off. Anton was right, upper part good lower part lagging. Judging on the improvement of most of the others this week, next week is a crunch week for him. 

Tilly now looking to be the dark horse of the series. Tom was a bit meh till the guitar went and he did his solo part then it was good. Another dark horse. Ugo was ok though he's got to work hard now. Played the kid card quite effectively!

So the standouts:

AJ which remarkably I actually got the dance to the movie. I'd bet on her winning this series. Not that I bet but this girl is fantastic. 

Rhys: perfect choice for him. Probably undermarked and we'll see that routine again in the final. Gets harder now as he can't rely on the body popping street stuff in waltz. 

Rose: simple, elegant and caught the spirit of movie week perfectly. Nice to see Claudia do sign language. 

Johannes & Johannes: I can't fault the dance or the routine. Worth 3 tens in week 3? Are we going to see another synchronised routine next week featuring the signature moves of Johannes? 

Sunday's night Mediocre Music guest is Ben Clapped-out or Ben Flapjack or something. Ten owls and howls automatically 🦉🐺 

[Cleoriff]

Another mediocre  group dance in my opinion.

The sound engineer needs to look at his dials and knobs or whatever they use nowadays.

The so called 'brilliant' Bev?? Platt couldn't be heard at the beginning of his godawful song. The BBC are scraping the barrel with their musical guests.

First call for the dance off is

Judy and Graziano.

2nd couple

Katie and Gorka.

So Katie and Gorka are out. Wrong decision. Anton got it right Judy made a mistake.

Very poor. Speechless actually.

[sheepdog]

I was looking for the fast forward button for the opening routine. It was that bad and lacked any sort of cohesion let alone rhythm. 

Howls and Owls fully justified for the anonymous bloke in a jumpsuit. Though I think I may need to release the school leopard if these mediocre acts keep persisting. With all the advances in music tech, schools and numerous online tutorials, why is there a complete lack of understanding to what makes a song and a tune these days? 

Obviously Tess has understood paying the YTS fashion trainee has benefits since Eve Pollard's cupboard got raided for Claudia's outfit. Pedal pushers again?

As for the dance-off, I was a bit surprised Adam got saved being bottom usually guarantees a DO place (doing an AT next week is way too early) but not displeased with Judy being there. Now we know the public vote will not save her  Katie was far better technically and performance as Anton correctly said. I have no idea what Shirley saw as "rhythm" to save Judy. Ballroom is going to be an epic disaster so I have a feeling next week's dance-off show is a foregone conclusion. Anyway, as promised please sign my petition to get rid of Judy Love 😁

[sheepdog]

@Cleoriff And Robert Webb withdraws: link

Short story: Previous heart operation and intense Strictly training meant he's under stress so doctor said out. 

[Cleoriff]

Was just coming to post this @sheepdog. Sad news but his health comes first.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/32d3940e-4e81-4c62-889e-8b5d73744bfe 

Just noticed I posted the same link as you. Duh. 😂

[sheepdog]

@Cleoriff you might enjoy this from last Saturday night. This is so much better than the mediocrity music act in half the time:

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog  Just brilliant 😂 Lots of 'I love you' comments at the end.

Are we in for more than one Strictly curse? Lol x

[sheepdog]

@Cleoriff And another one out for this Saturday: Ugo Moyne with back injury. At this rate, there is no point in having a public vote this week. Oh hang on, that's 20 mins the BBC have to fill with something now 😱

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog  Perhaps another group dance and more whittering from Claudia? FGS!!