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]

Ah yes, Claudia's oversized heels weren't a good idea. Guess budget cutbacks meant she had to have Tess's. Opening number reminded me of driving down the M6 at night with roadworks 😁

Westlife certainly are trying to recreate the Take That experience. Release the wolf pack. 

No surprises as I said with Judy being saved. Not that I really paid attention to her dance as I was putting in a (successful) bid on ebay. Greg was still awful even though his timing was better. Shirley needs to go to specsavers asap or stop watching cat videos on her phone. Counting the mistakes? Yeah right. 

@Cleoriff A relatively Greg free Macarena and still better than Westlife:

Think we've discovered Nadiya's guilty pleasure! She's wayyyy into this 🤣

[Cleoriff]

Well that's an excellent video @sheepdog 😂😂

[sheepdog]

Week 5 Owls and Howls.

We all know Judi Love is doomed so given its a Rhumba week, take your pick from Sara or Ugo to join her in the dance off. Looks like another cop-out by Johannes in avoiding ballroom again by doing a Charleston with a really weird track so he could be in the dance-off. 

AJ and Kai: Argentine Tango to Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks

Judi and Graziano: Cha Cha Cha to Physical by Olivia Newton-John

Rose and Giovanni: Viennese Waltz to Fallin' by Alicia Keys

Sara and Aljaž: Rumba to You're Still The One by Shania Twain

Tilly and Nikita: Foxtrot to Little Things by One Direction

Adam and Katya: Samba to Faith by George Michael

Dan and Nadiya: Viennese Waltz to She's Always a Woman by Billy Joel

John and Johannes: Charleston to Milord by Édith Plaf

Rhys and Nancy: American Smooth to I've Got The World On a String by Michael Bublé

Tom and Amy: Salsa to Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

Ugo and Oti: Rumba to Leave The Door Open by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic

[Cleoriff]

Oh two 'Dance's of Death' with the Rumba. As Sara has done so well recently, then it may fall to Ugo. However, he is dancing with Oti, one of my favourite professionals, so who knows.

@sheepdog  I did say I wouldn't be watching due to F1 Qualifying on Saturday. However, change of time and Q is now on at 22.00pm. Ridiculous time! Texas is 6hrs behind us so that means it's 4pm local time (normally 1pm local time for Qualifying)

The race itself on Sunday starts at 8pm. So wont see that show, it will be recorded.

Same next week as it's in Mexico.

[sheepdog]

Judi Love will NOT be going out this week. Seems she's caught covid.

[Cleoriff]

Yes I saw it on the news tonight. This means we will lose one of the better dancers!!

I suppose I should say I'm sorry she has Covid, although I hear she is only suffering flu like symptoms. 

[Cleoriff]

Enjoying F1 currently so will watch SCD on record when this has finished. Any post from me will be brief as Qualifying is on later. At least I can whip through all the chat on SCD. 😂

[sheepdog]

Theme of the night: Friends and Family. Next week: Fiends and Family 🤣

Claudia looking like a coat hanger. The BBC really need to get her to an image consultant or a mirror because it looked awful. 

So on to tonights efforts and surprisingly quite a high standard and some atrocious singing by the female singers.  In no particular order as I can't remember the order so copying and pasting the order from above:

AJ and Kai: Excellent. Best AT so far then again, compared to Adam Peaty's, it had to be. Otherwise it was excellent by its own merits.

Judi and Graziano: Dance-off by default even though missing. Given the standard tonight, retiring early might be the better option than having to go through the dance-off next week.

Rose and Giovanni: By far, the best of the night and undermarked. Just a stunning routine. 

Sara and Aljaž: Lacking. Not bad, not good but lacking. Alijaz's foot dragging around Sara's positioning not picked up by the judges? Happened about 3 times! Scored appropriately.

Tilly and Nikita: Was on before Rose and was the best of the night after Dan. Very good and better than her paso yet didn't score the same. 

Adam and Katya: Um. From the dance itself, it did lack flow and more set-pieces glued together. Which became obvious when they mentioned training didn't go well so Katja played a blinder here with that routine. 

Dan and Nadiya: First on and great opener. Undermarked with my only complaint was the hand placement. Ended up towards the bottom of the leaderboard but if in the dance-off, easily the best. 

John and Johannes: I found it boring, judges didn't and top of the leaderboard. No surprises for another synchronised routine. Won't be a surprise if ballroom becomes his downfall which is more Johannes not willing to step outside of his comfort zone. 

Rhys and Nancy: I liked the way it invoked a 50's style movie and atmosphere. Judges correct in their remarks. 

Tom and Amy: Very good though needs to work on transitions as the lead-in to the lifts were on the slow side.

Ugo and Oti: Considering I hate the Rhumba, this I liked. A few issues though but showed intent. Dance-off against Sara by my reckoning and going home regardless. 

Sunday's musical mediocrity act features none other than my favourite person I love to hate: Craig Daaaaaaaviiiid. And some other person he's duetting with. I need a special category for the wolf pack. 

[Cleoriff]

So quick and quicker....

Dan and Nadiya. Foxtrot. A careful dance but good for Dan. Scored 28

Adam and Katya Samba Certainly lost his shyness. Good performance Scored 29.

Sara and Aljaz. Rumba. I enjoyed this Craigs mark of 4 did NOT match his comments Scored 25

Tom and Amy. Salsa. Really excellent dance. Great lifts. Scored 34

Tilly and Nikita. Foxtrot. Really beautiful. Just flowed Scored 36

AJ and Kai. Argentine Tango. If I could jump for joy I would. Simply brilliant Scored 35 (undermarked)

Oti and Ugo. Rumba. Pretty poor Dance off beckons. Scored 20

John and Johannes. Charleston. Excellent dance. Need to see some ballroom now Scored 38

Rose and Giovanni. Viennese Waltz. What a great interpretation using sign language. Dramatic. Scored 37

Rhys and Nancy. American Smooth. What a shame he lost his balance, apart from that it was a good dance. Scored 32.

Right now back to F1 for Qualifying....exciting Lol

Q not started yet so want to mention Claudia's dress, which was bloody awful. 3 sizes too big and terrible.

As for Craig David, I really hate him. What happened to the good acts? Or have there been any? 😓

[sheepdog]

Ah tonights opening number was something I actually got and enjoyed! Then I got where Claudia shops at: Primark. This woman gets paid nigh on a million a year almost half of which is from Strictly and the best she can come up with is an animal print leggings and a semi-tucked in blouse?

Anyway, no prizes for Ugo being in the dance-off but Rhys didn't quite get the public vote on saturday. No surprises for guessing who got the all the votes from the judges so Ugone home now. 

Next week is double-sided sticky tape and bog-roll week. Sadly no coloured toilet roll was available so expect the BBC's hoard of toilet rolls to be reduced. 

Craig David and Eminsqueaky was as suspected, downright awful matched by the TikTok shuffle dancing by Neil & Diane. Best to skip over that howling moment. Or imagine a pack of wolves devouring them which is strangely more memorable though fictional.

In fact, watch this instead and we should demand this as a theme week: