Strictly 2022

[sheepdog]

Seems its that time of the year when the BBC license tax earns it's value by making me watch Saturday night TV in the main room. Yes, Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens with the usual list of "celebs"!

Starting with failed pop star turned relatively successful actress and grandmother, it's none other than Kym Marsh with probably a show to promote in between:

Not to be outdone, second on the list is jobbing soap actor and failed pop singer (oh the 90's had so many forgettable acts, cue exhibit 1): Will Mellor

Lets see what tomorrow brings us in the surface analysis of celebrity barrel sampling.

Also 4 new pros to be shoved in the background replacing Aljaz & Oti. No change in the judges other than Bruno will no longer be in the cupboard at all making Anton permanent. Guess we're still getting Craig and Shirley and probably a guest judge as well at some point. Unfortunately the BBC won't get rid of TessBot & Grimace so yet again, the teleprompter will be in full effect with Christmas cracker jokes. 

On the other hand, the Masked Dancer is slated for an autumn release this year. 

[sheepdog]

Halloween Week means cheap costumes and heavy makeup with an appropriate tune to match. Not this year. Someone decided that the music is mildly related to the theme. I also look forward to the DAO adding to the carnage on Saturday night:

Ellie and Nikita: Foxtrot to Scooby Doo, Where Are You? by David Mook, Ben Raleigh

Ellie and Johannes: Couple's Choice to I Put A Spell On You by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker & Kathy Najimy

Fleur and Vito: Salsa to Break My Soul by Beyoncé

Helen and Gorka: Foxtrot to Lil' Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

Kym and Graziano: Rumba to Frozen by Madonna

Molly and Carlos: Argentine Tango to Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) by Kate Bush

Hamza and Jowita: Tango to Wicked Game by Chris Isaak

James and Amy: Charleston to Bumble Bee by LaVern Baker

Tony and Katya: Quickstep to The Devil Went Down To Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band

Tyler and Dianne: Cha Cha Cha to Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) by Tanz Orchester Klaus Hallen

Will and Nancy: Mama Told Me Not To Come by Tom Jones and Stereophonics

[Cleoriff]

I do like some of the music (Not particularly to SCD though)

The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Pity Tony is 'dancing' to this.)

I hardly think Running Up That Hill is the right music for an AT.

Jay McGuinness danced to Lil' Red Riding Hood when he was on Strictly.

However, it's Mexico F1 this weekend so pretty much the same for me as last week. I'll post after I've watched it.

[sheepdog]

Well the show opener saw the judges make an effort: Motsi in some sort of death mask (think its something Mexican about day of the dead), Anton in Captain Hook, Shirley in Gomez Adams and Craig, well take your pick between Angelica Houston's Mortica and Cher! Claudia just needed a bright green hi-vis jacket and it would have co-ordinated perfectly with her bright green high heels. Tess in some sort of random cut dress with   sparkly wellies. 

Onto the show itself. First off I was not expecting much as 3 themes in October is way too much and being Halloween, brings its own monstrosities. So it didn't disappoint. Judges marking was ridiculous and for some reason Shirley got replaced by a haunted teleprompter. Not sure if that makes an improvement to her eyesight or not. Also the computer graphics incorporated in the dances are now extremely tedious and add nothing. 

Tony and Katya: Quickstep. First out so usually means its forgettable. This was actually was pretty good for him, no tricks and no gimmicks. Usual problems but yeah, this was progress all round. Scored a remarkable 31 and not even bottom of the leaderboard.

Will and Nancy: Cha-cha. Supposedly. Barely. Awful really but judges loved it for some reason. Thing is with Will, he's never at the end of the show which means the producers don't think much so he's now in a precarious position of being in the dance-off with regularity. Overmarked at 32.

Kym and Graziano: Rumba. Oh dear, looked to be interesting then I remembered its a Rhumba. Lots of arms and swirling and little else. Bizarrely scored 34. Why Shirley & Anton thought it was a 9 can only mean they're possessed.

James and Amy: Charleston. Ok so tell me what has a Bee theme got to do with Halloween week? If you can answer that then you've realised the dance was a bit average and forgettable. 27 from the judges. 

Molly and Carlos: Argentine Tango. One of the best of the night. No idea what Anton & Craig were watching with Craig shockingly giving a 6. Could have done with more leg flicks in the middle though. 33 thanks to Craig.

Tyler and Dianne: Cha Cha Cha allegedly. More like a salsa samba cha-cha. The judges blindfold scoring gave 35 with a unjustified 10 from Anton. 

Helen and Gorka: Foxtrot. Cleanest dance of the night. Other than that, not much wrong. Again,

needs some dynamic wow to go with her progress to shake up the favourites. 32 scored.

Hamza and Jowita: Tango. Another good one from Hamza. Thought the costumes made it look a bit stodgy rather than the sharpness we want to see in the Tango. 33 which seemed about right considering. 

Fleur and Vito: Salsa. Stepped backwards to week one and wiped out all the progress she's made since. In fact it almost looked like her first dance with all the same faults. Scored 32 but the voting audience may not be enough to keep her out of the dance-off.

Ellie and Nikita: Foxtrot. Painfully slow, judges completely blind. Think we're beyond sympathy votes now so one of my favourites to be in the dance off if not exiting this weekend. I can't see the progress and Nikita's choreography is now masking the problem. Overmarked with 29. 

Ellie and Johannes: Couple's Choice. Last on so in theory, the show stopper. It wasn't by far her best. It was all follow-me by Johannes again. Missed opportunity. How it got three 9's means we need VAR asap!

Tomorrows MMA is someone I've barely heard of: Rina Sawayama. Quick Youtubing and she may be slightly better than last weeks act. 

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog, Not going to write my very brief notes on everyone. Just make a few comments (No F1 next week. Brazil on 11-13th Nov)

Tony and Katya. Best dance for them Damn good in fact

Will and Nancy. Nothing to rave about so overmarked

Kim and Graziano. I quite enjoyed the Rumba although agree it was overmarked

James and Amy. Re the bee theme. This could be due to a religious belief. If you remember, Dan Walker from BBC news was the same. His dance had nothing to do with Halloween. He pointed out he was a Christian. Anyway back to James. Awful dance for him. I can see him being in the bottom 2.

Molly and Carlos Very good. Probably not as good as Fleurs but one of the best dances of the night. Undermarked by Craig.

I missed both Hamza and Fleur's dances!!

Ellie and Nikita. Just awful. I think Nikita has used up his bag of tricks to make Ellie look good Overmarked.

Ellie and Johannes. Ridiculous. Didn't get the gist of that at all. Gobsmacked with their score.

Had to flick over as Qualifying was starting

Judges : Craig looked great as Morticia, Motsi was aiming for Dios de la Muertos, and was ok. Shirley looked stupid and was Anton Captain Hook?

Tess looked awful with her split dress and her knee high boots, As for Claudia, Black dress, long at the front and caught in her knickers at the back! Add to that, the most foul pair of fluorescent green high heels! Ugh!

[sheepdog]

Results show saw an Icararus inspired opening number which as usual made no sense so best move on. Tess in a purple velour flared jumpsuit which somehow worked. Claudia in recycling the London marathon thermal foil blankets with flares. Please stop making flares happen BBC.

Goodness knows what Motsi sees in the mirror and Shirley did a passable impression of Servalan from Blakes 7. Or a Romulan from Star Trek.

MMA was another indentikit bland "pop star"who to her credit did integrate herself well with the 4 dancers. Obviously lip-synching and worst of all, decided country line dancing would appeal. So minus marks for that alone. 

The bottom two ended up being James and my prediction of Fleur. A couple of errors from James and quite a few noticeable mistakes from Fleur. So the judges decided that they were going with their favourite and discarded the dance-off so saved Fleur. Not that I think James is the better dancer but in this dance-off, this was the wrong reason by the judges.

[Cleoriff]

I didn't understand the opening number, so cant comment really

No surprise that James was in the bottom 2. Annoyed that it was Fleur again. The public have a dislike for her which I don't understand. I follow a Strictly group on FB and the consensus seemed to be Ellie S would be in the dance off.  Ah well, for all their talk, they need to vote!

I listened to the opening line from the MMA and fast forwarded through that.

pleased that Fleur is still there, although on the night (which is what the judges should be voting on), she did herself no favours.

I listened to the verdict then quickly flicked over to F1 just in time for lights out.

No idea who is doing what next week. (On SCD)

[sheepdog]

Week 7: Theme free! Oh wait, this is not a bad setup and another Argentine Tango @Cleoriff 

Ellie & Nikita: Charleston to Too Darn Hot by Kiss Me Kate

Ellie & Johannes: Rumba to Alone by Heart

Fleur & Vito: Waltz to I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues by Elton John

Helen & Gorka: Jive to Tightrope by Janelle Monáe

Kym & Graziano: Argentine Tango to Assassin’s Tango by John Powell

Molly & Carlos: Foxtrot to You Make Me Happy by My Sun and Stars

Hamza & Jowita: Cha Cha Cha to I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) by Four Tops

Tony & Katya: Salsa to I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) by Pitbull

Tyler & Dianne: Viennese Waltz to I’ve Been Loving You Too Long by Seal

Will & Nancy: Quickstep to Soda Pop by Robbie Williams featuring Michael Bublé

Think we're down to either Ellie S or Tony to be in the dance-off though not writing off Ellie T being there either. 

[Cleoriff]

I bet we see Fleur in the dance off again @sheepdog. The public just don't like her at all.

Not sure they will be booting Tony off just yet either. I hope they see sense and go for Ellie S. I don't expect we will ever see her doing the AT!

[sheepdog]

This week, Tess in respectable yellow, Claudia in star pyjamas, Motsi just normal and Craig in some camo jacket. 

Hamza & Jowita: Cha Cha Cha. Body language at the start kind of gave it away it wasn't going to be good. Got better but worthy of 3x 10's? No. 

Ellie & Nikita: Charleston. Her best dance so far but I didn't like it. Think this as good as it gets for her. 

Ellie & Johannes: Rumba. Oh dear. Danced with the emotion of a clock. Judges slated it and guaranteed in the dance-off with a score of 22. Totally justified. Wasn't exactly seen in the background either so probably took it too harshly. 

Tyler & Dianne: Viennese Waltz. I actually liked it but saying that, his posture did cause him to look awkward. Hard to disagree with the judges though but otherwise third from bottom on the leaderboard. 

Will & Nancy: Quickstep. Now in mid-table mediocrity and doesn't look like he's going to be pushing anyone else for other than the dance-off next week. 

Kym & Graziano: Argentine Tango. Wait, what was this? Top drawer stuff from Grandma Marsh and deservedly scored well.

Molly & Carlos: Foxtrot. A reminder to everyone else, there's still two places for the final because one is taken. Lovely.

Helen & Gorka: Jive. Literally the second she started, it was the performance we've been waiting for! Loved this one and best of the night by far. Worth more than Hamza but judges marked her down for something they saw. Keep this up and a place in the final is her's.

Fleur & Vito: Waltz. After last week this had to be better. But something not quite right. Think Shirley got it right with her footwork being a bit clunky. Safe from the dance-off? Possibly.  Given the potential of one the other candidates, she's going to be saved. Unless its Tyler or Will. 

Tony & Katya: Salsa. Well he tried but you can see he tried. Still better than Ellie T with the mistakes but will it be enough to make it out of the dance-off alive against her? Judges ensured he scored 20 to be bottom of the table. Breaking out the voltorol as we speak.

Sunday's MMA is someone called Luke Evans. Quickly youtube'ed and he may get the Sheepdog Paw of Approval. 

[Cleoriff]

So tonight's show

Shirley wore a tasselled jumpsuit, Tess looked ok but Claudia was in a pair of glittery pyjamas.

Hamza and Jowita. Cha Cha Cha.

A really great dance with excellent timing and body rolls. Didn't deserve 3 10's though Scored 38

Ellie and Johannes. Rhumba.

Mmmm. Shame really. Started well but too much walking about .However, I think they were undermarked

Scored 22

Mollie and Carlos. Foxtrot.

Beautiful dance. Good transitions  Scored a well deserved 35

Ellie and Nikita. Charleston.

Time to stop now in my opinion. Far too many lifts. I didn't like it. Vastly overmarked Scored 33

Tyler and Dianne. Viennese Waltz.

What a shame. So many mistakes. Unlike Tyler. Scored 29

Kim and Graziano. Argentine Tango.

Wow. Just brilliant. Loved it Scored 37

Will and Nancy.  Quickstep.

Very good performance. Scored 33.

Helen and Gorka. Jive

What a great jive. I didn't see a single mistake. Brilliant. Scored 37

Fleur and Vito. Waltz.

If she's in the bottom two again it will be grossly unfair. This was a lovely waltz. Scored 35

Tony and Katya. Salsa.

What can I say. He tries and he makes me laugh. However far too many mistakes. Scored 21. (Ridiculous that he was only 1 point lower than Ellie and Johannes.