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Strictly is back and I've just realised how long ago I logged in. Still, it's that time of the year when our Saturday evening viewing highlight is Strictly. @Cleoriff we get to fill the off-topic section for a couple of months 🙂
This year, the BBC seems to have discovered "celebz" by utilising the Sonar Mapping technology. Just watch this informative video on how the BBC uncovers the latest contestants for this year. Yep, it's not going to be pretty again...
To start, it's Layton Williams who's apparently an actor and starred in such things as musicals so obviously the ringer of the series. Sonar ping did take a while to return:
Next up, is someone who has apparently been acting for 3 decades and yet remains completely anonymous to me. Here is Amanda Abbington who's claim to fame is Martin Freeman's ex. Apparently causing a stir on Twitter for a tiny minority.
Lo and behold, we now have a household name: Angela Rippon! Apart from reading the news way back when there were 3 channels, she's also presented Strictly's predecessor Come Dancing for a while. Also 79 so out by week 2.
Celebz number 4 is Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Since I have never watched C4 news ever, I've just seen clips of him in passing. Sheepdog's Strictly Score: probably mid-table mediocrity.
Sonar pinging is really taking its time with our next Celebz: Eddie Khadi. According to the webpage: "Recognised as one of the most globally celebrated stand up personalities...". Though the page fails to specify which planet. Could be fun, could be gone before his time and maybe putting in a job application for Claudia.
Returning an audio signal is the nice but rather bland TV presenter Angela Scanlon. Could be the dark horse of the series or could be a better presenter than Claudia next year.
Come in Contestant number 7, your time is up. This year's nominee for "Who's that?" award is Zara McDermott. Her wiki page classes her as an English media personality which you can guess, means looks pretty for the cameras. Cynicism aside, seems to be forging a career in documentaries and has a bit of career on television shows before Love Island.
So that's the first un-magnificent 7 announced. I suspect that we'll be getting the current vogue of a Drag Queen announced as a new feature and some other obscurities over the next few days. Maybe we may see a controversial choice of Philip Schofield now he's out of work on ITV.
Unfortunately, we're still stuck with the same judges as before so more Motsi who's bound to be even more annoying this year so I shall look forward to muting "Motsi's Mumblings" and the still boring Tess and more of the same from Claudia. Only real change (so far) from the pro's is that Amy Dowden won't be there due to recent cancer/Chemotherapy treatment.
As for It Take's two, Jeanette Ranarama is back but seems someone likes Fleurgh East enough on the Beeb to give her a job co-presenting as Rylan's replacement.
I think I'll be using iplayer on fast forward rather a lot this year.
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Ok so I give you the iconic jive by Jay and Aliona. Danced in week three of SCD in 2015.
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Yes @sheepdog ... good idea ... & ... @Cleoriff yes, Jay & Aliona's Jive won't ever be beaten ... ... ... it was Top Dance in that Covid Christmas Show, well it was a No-Brainer really ... ... ... Alisha Dixon did comment on that Christmas show that she was pleased to see Jill's Jive in the Top 50 was it ? ... with Yorkshireman Darren Bennett = I believe they won the show that year. Alisha was pleased to see Jill's jive remembered / voted for idk - Jill was att an actress in Eastenders as a policewoman.
I have watched SCD since the beginning ... & ... and as a former dancing family we all watched the show ... ... ... my dad Roy, bless him, danced the foxtrot beautifully (hardest traditional ballroom dance) ... allus enjoyed jiving with my dad ... ... ... he was very happy to see Darren Bennett's wife Lilia Kopylova dance (her thighs were about the size of her waist) = can't remember who she won the show with though.
Regular posters will be aware that I find it too complicated to post videos and photos.
Looking forward to tonight's show ... ... ... the pasa doble and in general ..... but ..... always enjoy the professionals 'demonstration'.
FYI (for your information) the Musical Director of SCD chooses the music for the show saying something like 'I see this so-&-so piece of music as this so-&-so dance' ... ... ... the hapless Dave Arch then has to arrange the director's choice ... ... ... yes, Dave Arch & his Orchestra come in for a lot of stick on the SCD threads I am a member of on Facebook ... ... ... ... ... My mum Olwen, bless her, gifted me the SCD books each Christmastime ... I really only wished for them for the professional dancers and contestants profile including A4 pin up photo ..... I gave away what I had when mum passed away ... & ... haven't bothered since.
Looking forward to tonight's show xx 
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Week One
Opening number by professionals was beautiful. Tess and Claudia looked as if they dressed in the dark.
I have to say I disagreed with much of the judges scoring!
Adam and Luba. Cha Cha Cha
A bit all over the place but enthusiastic! Score 19
Angela S and Carlos. Tango.
Great first dance. Lots of potential Needs to work on body core. Score 23
Eddie and Karen Quickstep.
Great out of hold. A good first dance Score 22
Angela R and Kai. Cha Cha Cha,
A ridiculous dance with little cha cha content. OTT scoring 28
Nikiita and Gorka Waltz.
A good first waltz. Underscored 18
Layton and Nikita. Samba.
This guy is a dancer but I didnt enjoy his samba at all. OTT Score 28!
Zara and Grazio. Cha Cha Cha.
Ok first dance . Scored 19
Les and Nancy. Tango.
Pretty awful really. weird facial expressions Score 16
Ellie and Vito Jive.
What a great jive for week one Scored 29
Posting in two halves.
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Jody and Jowita. Quickstep
I liked this dance. A good frame I forgot he has a prosthetic leg Scored 21
Bobby and Dianne. Foxtrot
A lovely dance. Great footwork Scored 29
Annabel and Johannes Cha cha cha.
A good first dance although a bit controlled Scored 28
Amanda and Giovanni. Viennese Waltz.
What a lovely dance. Standing spin excellent. Very emotional Score 29
Khrishnan and Lauren. Cha Cha Cha.
Better than I expected. Wrong music. Score 22
Nigel and Katya. Paso Doble.
Wrong music! To dance a Paso on the first week could have gone badly wrong but it didn't.
Very powerful and intense. Scored 32.
Overall a great first week.
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I'm going to post in two parts, first part tonight and then tomorrow because I've been out all day and really can't contend with 139 mins of Strictly to go through!
Hmm, not a fan of slowed down interpretations of upbeat songs so its a "Ok but don't do it again"for the opening number.
Tess: remind me again how much she gets paid to tart-up a black dustbin bag? Truly an insult to black bin bags. Claudia: as you were. This weeks identity theft resemblance:
Adam: First on the dancefloor and probably the first one on the dancefloor at weddings. Lots of synch issues but one who will improve as the weeks go by as he's got the granny vote with that cheeky chappy smile.
Angela Scan-the-QR-code: Hmm. This is a dance too early for her and it showed a lot of failings which isn't her fault. Could be the series dark horse but timing could be her weak point.
Eddie Can-he?: Posture problems but definitely not a performance problem. Karen will drive him hard and it will pay off.
Angela Rip-off Britain: I'll just remind everyone, she's 78 and doesn't care! Go for it girl! Moves pretty well but you could see it a set piece followed by a transition filler to the next set piece by Kai. Good for a couple of weeks before the inevitable exit stage left.
Nikita Kan-do: Stacey Solo-man: Not bad at all. Needs work on expressing her movements to sell the dance otherwise could find herself being bland and boring, but should go quite far.
Just noticed Motsi is wearing an ostrich.
Layton: playing the mum card in week 1? Is anyone convinced he's an amateur who's never taken dance lessons before in his life? Suffers from his ego taking over in trying to add his own flourishes to every single dance and making every dance "his own". Early exit should beckon but the judges will give him the right scores to make sure.
Zara TikTok: every VT is an opportunity to be a short span video on social media. Must admit she's got the moves but and its a big but, she's not convincing with it. The Strictly voting public isn't one to do "likes" if you treat them like a sales pitch.
Les: Let's do an ironic musical comparison. The chorus to Don't you want me is:
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
and that's exactly describes the performance.
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I know Angela Rippon is 78. However she was meant to do a Can Can and it was more No Can Do! The judges standing up because she's a 'legend', Also giving her a ridiculously high score was more than pathetic.
That really turned me off.
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Layton has had previous dance experience. They mentioned it last week and last night after he danced.... showed off!! 😂
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Part 2 and the better half of the show.
Ellie: Week 1!!! It's not often the first dance wows me but with the confidence matched by ability, she's a strong contender. Judges should be rightfully shamed for giving Angela Rippon almost the same score.
Jody: Solid opener. Could need some posture work which may be related to his cycling training putting him in a lean position but will go a long way. Credit to Motsi, good comments.
Edward Scissorhands: My what big hands Bobby has got! Found it a bit cringey and cheesey and with faults. Needless to say, he's got potential but may struggle in some of the faster dances. Apparently has never seen Strictly so cue a lot of VT's saying "never seen this dance before" that may get a bit boring after 2 weeks.
Annabel: Oh gawd and oh good they got the tennis theme out of the way. Could go a long way if Johannes doesn't get bored. Agree with Craig, she was a bit stiff but good for a week 1. Ballroom should get her good scores.
Amanda: Viennese Waltz in week 1 is brave and unusual. And she pulled it off like a mid-series dance bordering on a contemporary interpretation. Definitely a very strong contender. Judges will now be hyper critical of her technique.
Khrishnan: Well, Lauren is very good but I suspect she's be dancing around him rather a lot to mask his inabilities. I'll give him about 3 weeks though his ballroom may be the one that saves him in a dance-off rather than his latin.
Nigel: Another week 1 wonder. Another strong contender to go a very long way. As for "Smells like Teen spirit" more like "Smells like a Teens toilet" as the music choice for a paso. Sigh, there's many more mangled music choices to come this series.
So next week, we get a vote to "save our favourite" and so returns the not-so-live Sunday results show featuring the first nominee for 3M award (Mediocre Musical Monstrosity). Up first is Jorja Smith which googling gave me this gem of a suggested question:
In the name of research, I youtube'd her music in anticipation of being extremely disappointed and sure enough, its blindingly obvious the music acts are going to be abysmal again.
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