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.

[sheepdog]

In a surprising twist, Claudia turns up in sensible dress! Opening number, typical Remembrance day routine so no problems with that one.

Onto the music, James Blunt on helium and learning the piano in 30 days. Meh, release the pack.

In a surprising twist, AJ is saved from the dance off leaving Tilly and Sara to fight it out. Sadly, I missed Tilly's routine due to an impromptu vomiting episode though Sara's was worse second time round. Voted off by the judges.

Next week is the random obscure movie musical week. 

[Cleoriff]

I noticed Claudia's dress actually fitted this week. Opening number was lovely I thought.

Re Tilly and Sara  @sheepdog it's a pity you missed Tilly's dance. I was gobsmacked that the judges saved her. She had a few missteps. Sara, although I didn't like her AT, danced it better than 'yesterday'.

James Blunt was awful!

I didn't hear what dance John and Johannes are doing next week. Is it another Latin??

[sheepdog]

And for musical weeks these are the weird choices:

AJ and Kai Waltz to Edelweiss from The Sound Of Music

Rose and Giovanni Quickstep to Love Is An Open Door from Frozen The Musical

Tilly and Nikita Couple’s Choice to Revolting Children from Matilda

Dan and Nadiya Charleston to Good Morning from Singin’ In The Rain

John and Johannes Viennese Waltz to Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins

Rhys and Nancy Jive to Footloose from Footloose

Tom and Amy Couple’s Choice to On My Own from Les Misérables

This could be something bizarre in my opinion: we'll have a dance-off with two couples choices there and history made in that it will be the first time (I think) a CC will have been booted out. I'm kind of expecting AJ & Rose to be at the top closely followed by Rhys. Dan may actually be the better of Johannes.

This weeks better entertainment from the hidden microphone segment that needs to replace the musical mediocrity:

[Cleoriff]

Oh please don't wish Tom in the dance off! Maybe it will be Dan?
Not impressed with any of the music. However depending on the interpretation, Les Mis should be much better than Matilda!

WE know that the 'winners' Johannes and Co won't be in the dance off. In fact I would go as far as saying, if they WERE in the dance off, the BBC would fudge the scores!!

Anyway, F1 is in Qatar this weekend and normal service is resumed with timing.

[Cleoriff]

Opening number from Cabaret was lovely.

Tess and Claudia went for glitter dresses but why was the sash on Tess's dress so damn long?

Motsi's hair looked as if she had been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Guest judge was Cynthia Erivo who is a singer???

AJ and Kai. Waltz to Edelweiss. Simply beautiful dance. Loved it. Scored 38

Rhys and Nancy. Jive to Footloose. Good enough but needs to work on foot positions Scored 32

Tom and Amy. Couples Choice to On My Own. It's Tom. I thought it was lovely. Some of the judges thought he should be crying. Pffttt. Scored 31

Rose and Giovanni. Quickstep to Love is an Open Door. Such a lovely dance but the judges mentioned one mistake. I missed it. Despite that they Scored 39.

John and Johannes. Viennese Waltz to Chim Chim Cher-ee. Faults are beginning to show. My least favourite dance of the night with footwork errors and CRIKEY, criticism from judges! As Anton said, it was a safe dance. Scored 32.

Tilly and Nikita. Couples Choice to Revolting Children. I really didn't expect this to be as good as it was. Excellent. Scored 40.

Dan and Nadiya. Charleston to Good Morning. Really good effort. Very joyous. Scored 31.

So Tom and Dan are bottom two on 31. Followed by John and Rhys with 32. Who knows what will happen?

[sheepdog]

Had to watch it a bit late due to the football going on then sign in to BBC iplayer which is utter tedium. 

Wasn't sure on the opener, maybe because I haven't seen Cabaret or it just felt a bit too much like a by-the-numbers routine. Maybe I need some Cabernet instead 😂 

Tess: 80's bling, Claudia: glittery towel wrap. Motsi: Hair Bear 

Come to think of it, that is the usual judging panel 😉 Big owl points for Cynthia Everio because there's nothing like finding a star from the west end who needs a bit of cash at short notice. More on her later.

AJ: floaty! Needed this week to be good and performed. Needed a better colour dress though. Safe-ish this week with no doubt. Overplayed the crying card. 

Rhys: disappointed after last weeks Charleston. Judges were correct though the consistent issue of control means he may be in another dance-off next week. 

Tom: found it dull. Judges partly right on emotion but its not a West End play is it. Don't think this was a good choice of theme for Couple's Choice anyway. I've predicted he's in the dance-off already and the only person he could beat is Johannes. 

Rose: looking like a champion with this consistency. Typical awful camera work means only the judges and part of the studio could see the apparent error. 

Johannes: Mr Kiplings Vienesse Whirls have more twirls than this routine. Johannes is obviously clueless having repeated the same moves week after week and this just highlighted everything. John is also dull and Anton has finally said it: he hasn't progressed. Perhaps having a female pro would have pushed him harder because he's in the dance-off and could be exiting. 

Tilly: Comeback Kid! Was unexpected and overmarked. Found her too hunched over so perhaps it was a feature of the dance? Uniforms sponsored by George at Asda saving the costume department a shed load of time and money. 

Dan: Outstanding and to me best of the night. Seriously under-marked! A 7 from the owl and Hair Bear????? Obvious collusion in play to make sure he's stays at the bottom. Or marking him down for not extending his already massively long arms or legs is a bit pathetic as he needs to keep in time. 

Out of the lot, I'd say Tom v John is a likely outcome with Tom just pulling out a better technical and visual performance to be saved. I don't think John is dynamic enough to pull out the deciding factor with this routine. Then again, Cynthia may decide to put on dark glasses during Tom's dance-off. If either is against Dan, I'd favour Dan for being far better providing he doesn't make mistakes. If Rhys is there against Tom or Dan it will be tough choice but John is the one who should be worried. 

Cynthia Everio: brought nothing and hopefully won't be seen again. Of course she'll be next year's musical mediocrity singer for musical week. Seemed to be out of her depth in understanding anything but a performance and was as dull as John. As for her 7 for Dan, that was insulting beyond belief. The BBC should have had a Mobile Virtual Presence device for Craig:

Something called Max Harwood & The Feeling will dare to fend off the Wolf pack tomorrow. 

[Cleoriff]

If John is in the dance off which I seriously doubt, then they will be kept in. As I've said, he could be in the dance off every week and the judges would save him. The Beeb would love to be the first to have a same sex winner! I think Dan was undermarked as well. The judges seem to feel if they give him over 30 then it's job done!

[Cleoriff]

Loved the opening number and then shock after shock.....Claudia appeared wearing WHITE. Never been seen before.

Were the wolves howling for Max Harwood and the Feeling @sheepdog? Damn awful!!

In the dance off are

Rhys and Nancy

Tom and Amy (boo hoo)

Oh shock horror. John and Johannes are back to Latin next week with the Argentine Tango!

Tom and Amy are eliminated. Pfffttt.

[sheepdog]

Hmmm kind of was forced to make a cup of tea for the family for the opening number but green is er kind of hot 😼

Claudia looked kind of good for a summer outdoor garden show. But hey, its not black. Yellow heels not sure about but at least they fitted. 

Glad to see Dan rightly avoiding the dance-off but it was hard between Rhys and Tom. Should have been John in there. Kind of went for Rhys myself but only just so can't really criticise Shirley. 

Talking of John, the AT should prove a difficult one for him and hopefully gets in the dance-off. Tilly might be the one exiting as she's got a samba and they don't particularly go well this end of the series. We'll see.

As for that bit in the middle, the wolf pack stopped off to watch some paint dry before moving off to KFC and completely forgetting there was a musical act attempting some performance. Seriously though, why did we have to witness yet another display of TikTok dance moves from the (new) pros who weren't even in sync. 

[sheepdog]

Week 10 dances and tunes that don't incur a big royalty fee so WILL be made to fit by DAO:

AJ and Kai: Couple's Choice to Make Me Feel by Janelle Monáe

Rose and Giovanni: Paso Doble to California Dreamin' by Sia

Tilly and Nikita: Samba to Levitating by Dua Lipa

Dan and Nadiya: Rumba to Desperado by Eagles

John and Johannes: Argentine Tango to The 5th by David Garrett

Rhys and Nancy: Waltz to You Light Up My Life by Whitney Houston

Not sure on AJ's choice of music here. Just doesn't seem bouncy enough and doing a "street" may be a bit cliche or passe i.e. boring. Think she may need to pull something spectacular on Saturday. Rose's choice will be interesting to a paso as the Sia version sound good without the vocals but sadly it will have one of DAO's singer providing the massacre. 

Tilly - the song is one of those short clips used on Instagram/Tiktok. And the samba is really the only fast one of the night so may fall flat. Is it me or has she been given far too many modern tunes in this series? Dan, well look out for jokes about Desperado Dan. Good tune and this will be a first for Nadiya doing a rhumba I think. Since its a rhumba, auto dance-off place guaranteed. Won't be surprised if Tilly is there with him. 

The Johannes clones: on last nights ITT, John said on closing "if you thought our rhumba was intimate wait till you see our AT". Meaning, more synchro moves out of hold and basic steps which the judges won't notice so give him 10's. Tune is quite good though. Also hasn't done a Couples choice yet so guess what: more synchro moves out of hold coming soon. 

Rhys looks relatively safe with the waltz though I really have low expectations on one of the DAO singers pulling it off.