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]

If you were watching other channels last week, you would have probably missed that Strictly is going to Blackpool this week. With that in mind here are the nominations for the songs & dances that makes you throw your hands in the air and question reality:

Ellie T & Johannes: American Smooth to You’re My World by Cilla Black

Fleur & Vito: Couple's Choice to Destiny’s Child Megamix by Destiny’s Child

Helen & Gorka: Quickstep to Valerie by Mark Ronson ft Amy Winehouse

Kym & Graziano: Paso Doble to Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna / We Found Love by Calvin Harris ft Rihanna

Molly & Carlos: Jive to Bandstand by Boogie Barry Manilow

Hamza & Jowita: American Smooth to (Theme From) New York, New York by Frank Sinatra

Tyler & Dianne: Salsa to KC & The Sunshine Band Megamix by KC & The Sunshine Band

Will & Nancy: Samba to I Go To Rio by Hugh Jackman

Don't hold out much hope Fleur or Kym this week. Megamixes mashups don't usually come off too well. Oooooohh, just realised both of are dancing to artists I don't particularly like so those are my dance-off favourites 😉 I'll have to throw Tyler in there too but KC & Sunshine band are more in tune to the dance so hope he pulls out a great routine. Jury is out on Will but I suspect a very big number if this is anything to go by:

[Cleoriff]

Oh dear Hamza and Jowita are dancing to my worse song ever. I've been known to walk out of the room when I hear it. Still there's no way he will be  at risk.

If Kym makes a good job of the Paso she will be safe hopefully.

People love Cilla Black and Johannes, so it depends on their performance

I can't call it this week annoyingly. I'll wait till Saturday. 

[Cleoriff]

Couldn't fault the clothes from the judges or Tess and Claudia. Special mention to the flying saucer which landed on Motsi's head though 😂

All in all a great night. Blackpool tends to bring out the best in most of the celebs

Hamza and Jowita. American Smooth.

What a beautiful dance. Something we expect from Hamza Scored 38

Molly and Carlos. Jive. I love Molly but I felt there was something missing in this dance. Carlos (the King of Jive) was great Scored 35

Kym and Graziano. Paso Doble. I know this was one of the lowest scores but I thought it was damn great.

The judges didn't agree and she Scored 33 (I think this means dance off)

Tyler and Dianne. Salsa. Not sure why he had to wear an afro wig? Sadly for Tyler this wasn't very good Too many lifts and the first one was clumsy. For all that, he surprisingly scored higher than Kym. Scored 35

Ellie and Johannes. American Smooth I didn't enjoy this much. Good in parts but lacked emotion

Scored 31

Helen and Gorka. Quickstep. What a dance. Absolutely superb. Footwork in sync. Great choreography

Scored 39

Fleur and Vito Couples Choice. Wow, Wow, Wow. Was it Beyonce or Fleur? Just fabulous. Best dance of the night or season. Lovely to see Craig get his 10 paddle out. Scored 40. Totally deserved.

Will and Nancy. Samba. I thought it was ok. Probably biased as I can't take to Will, I think he's far too cocky. He used his hips to great advantage (for Shirley and Motsi) Scored 35.

I really can't call the dance off...but I hope it's not Kym!!

[sheepdog]

Oh Blackpool week, how we look forward to your cheesy video segments! Except you Fleur, you played the family card instead of getting with the atmosphere. Correct me if it wasn't Tyler who said "Blackpool is a short trip...". Er it takes me about 4 hours to get from just outside the M25 to Chester on all motorway and that's "obeying" the speed limits on a good day! Unless you flew then yeah, its still a tedious journey getting out of Manchester airport 🤣

Anyway, Tess in a green outfit with an interesting front split on the skirt. As in it was rather interesting to see how it moved and it seemed to get longer whatever position she stood in. Interesting but probably not one will see again.

Claudia in can only be described as vulture in a nest. With flares. Is there a rota for who's going to be wearing flares? Shirley in a rehashed London marathon thermal blanket and as for the opinion on Motsi this week? Well, just about normal apart from the fruit basket on her head but I kind of liked it. I like it better if she went at the end of this series though. Also did you think the judges were a bit too low on their seats?

Opening number was surprisingly enjoyable though I won't be emailing the BBC on where they get the coloured plastic see-through raincoats anytime soon. DAO excelled themselves tonight unlike the reverb on the spoken audio which is more likely down to the speakers to the main ballroom bouncing around the large floor.  Way too much bouncy camera work and overall, shoddy cutovers to different cameras mid-dance. 

Hamza & Jowita: Rather Hamza Alone 2: Lost in New York. Backing dancers too close and not really executed very well. Overmarked.

Tyler & Dianne: Salsa. Kind of liked it but thought the lifts were clumsy. Not helped by the lacklustre outfits. Backing dancers worked well. 

Molly & Carlos: Jive. The wrist action is awesome. However, judges didn't mark it as highly as I thought. Perhaps the bouncy floor played a factor as I couldn't see much wrong. 

Kym & Graziano: Paso Don't please. Wrong music and just not good as expected. A little too soft and overused the backing dancers. Bar Graziano who was awesome with the spin at the end. On the plus side, she did look good. Dance-off beckons and I can't see her beating anyone else.

Ellie T & Johannes: American Smooth. Oh I liked this one, moved all over the floor and backing dancers nowhere to be seen till called upon. Ruined by the pointless Stena chair lift at the end which was a waste of 20 seconds. More or less bottom by the judges deciding who they want in the dance-off but may just beat Kim in the dance-off. 

Helen & Gorka: Quickstep. Absolutely phenomenal. Best of the night for me. Robot-girl is gone and we've got a very strong contender now for lifting the trophy. 

Fleurggggh & Vito: Couple's Choice. Did nothing. Correction, if you drew a line on the floor from left to right which happens to be the camera vision field then all the supposed action took place on that line. Did nothing but gyrate in one or two positions, wave her arms around and kept her mouth open like a fish. As expected, the power shakes were there. Basically a fanboy Beyonce video montage. If you haven't realised by now, the judges have stated their favourite for the final by giving her 4 tens. Dance-off next week I reckon and won't be lifting the trophy either. 

Will & Nancy: Samba. He was absolutely lovin' it and so did we in our household. Another good one from Will and good use of the backing dancers but judges thought otherwise for some Fleur type reason. 8 from Craig was unfair.

Sam Radar, guy who did Eurovision and got 2nd is the MMA for Sunday's result farce. He could have made an effort in dressing up though but he's a nice bloke from what I've encountered so far. But he hasn't done Strictly and hasn't read my MMA reaction comments. Haahahahahahahahahah The Sheepdog is sharpening his pen nibs Haahahahahahahahahah

[Cleoriff]

Amazing how our opinions differed tonight @sheepdog.

Mind you we did agree about Helen who was brilliant.

I really disagree with your comment about the judges stating their favourite for the final by giving Fleur

4 tens. Perhaps they gave her 4 tens because she deserved them? Certainly got the biggest reaction from the crowd/audience/other dancers. They loved it and so did I 😂

Having said all that, I'm biased against Will and really unfair that I can't see beyond his cocky attitude.

Be interesting to see who's in the dance off. I may go and check FB 😂😂

[Cleoriff]

What a beautiful opening number. Made even better with the two youngsters and Sam Ryder.

Sam's second song was just as enjoyable.

First in the dreaded dance off are;

Molly and Carlos (you what??!!) I know I didn't rate her highly last night but she was better than Ellie and Tyler! They are joined by

Tyler and Dianne. (I thank the dancing gods of Blackpool for allowing Kym to get through 😂)

Molly and Carlos were saved. For me the right decision.

[sheepdog]

Wait, an MMA opening the show? Wait, Sam Radar is covering a John Farnham 80's classic and doesn't mess it up and wait, the pro routine with the kids is just simply epic. Oh what, that was choreography by Jason Gilkerson? And woah, Sam Radar gets out his electric guitar and starts riffing away!!!! That was the best opening ever and the show may get better....

Sadly not, the Blackpool rollercoaster went downwards after that with the wrong couples being in the dance-off of Molly and Tyler both of which didn't deserve it. More in a bit. 

Tess in a back of the closet bacofoil dress which I'm sure she's worn before and Claudia in a zebra outfit. Hmm. It worked though I was kind of hoping for a lion on the hunt to randomly appear. 

On the upwards trajectory, another appearance by Sam Radar so for once, I'm putting away the sharpened nibs and award him the best musical act of the series. Bonus for being on twice. No idea what he was singing about on the second song but was executed extremely well all round. 

As for the dance-off, I did think Molly's routine was a bit flat compared to last night and didn't notice she ran around a bit. Tyler was marginally better. I'd agree with the judges saying technique over presentation was probably the more accurate answer to saving her. Shame though for Tyler and I'll maintain the voting system is rigged as Ellie should have been the one going tonight. 

Kim has a couples choice next week to Chaka Khan so er, if its another street/commercial style, the voting public may be a touch bored and not vote for it. Still, this series is throwing up weird dance-offs as it is so it probably end up with Helen being there. 

[Cleoriff]

I was quite surprised at my other half. Normally if I say someone is a good singer, he disagrees. Just the way it rolls. Tonight though, he actually agreed that Sam Ryder was 'bloody good'. Loved his limited guitar solo

I love the way Motsi, in her effort to keep up the charade of a two night show, changes her ridiculous hair to something more acceptable. 😊

[sheepdog]

Only 4 more weeks till the grand final nail in the coffin....so this week we have quite a few nominees for the dance-off with this eclectic mix of whatever:

Ellie T & Johannes: Jive to Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison

Fleur & Vito: Rumba to Too Lost In You Sugababes

Helen & Gorka: Samba to Eso Beso by Emma Bunton

Molly & Carlos: Tango to Bad Guy by Billie Eilish

Hamza & Jowita: Argentine Tango to Libertango by Bond

Will & Nancy: Charleston to Hush by Kula Shaker

Also, Granny Kim is out with covid so gets a pass to next week. Can only see Ellie T in the exit door to be honest. Will Fleurrgh produce a more elegant performance in the dance of death after last week is the big question. Will has a really bizarre choice of song for a charleston so if he's performing in the first 3, I'd say he's going to be in the dance-off. 

Everyone else, well its as you were and don't make any mistakes. Expecting a flat week after Blackpool so may be tempted to watch Argentina v Mexico instead and catchup on iplayer. 

[Cleoriff]

Pleased Kym won't be facing the dance off. No doubt we don't need to talk Hamza because whatever he does the judges will be drooling. Me? I'll wait and see.

Definitely will be a dull week post Blackpool and yes, some weird music choices there.