Strictly 2023

[sheepdog]

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.

[Cleoriff]

NB. Adam and Luba are doing an American Rumba. Not sure of the difference (Unless it comes with fries) 😂

@sheepdog 

By the way, it will be another late one for me.

The F1 circus rolls into Brazil for the last of their triple headers  It's also a Sprint weekend and the Sprint doesn't start until 6pm, so my priority lies with them (Particularly as Mercedes have suddenly found some speed. Pity, like last year, it's far too late to have much effect on anything, other than Lewis beating the 2nd Red Bull Driver (Perez) into second place in the drivers championship.🙄

[pgn]

Where the Rumba is involved, posture and awareness are key;

🤣

[Cleoriff]

Ah yes @pgn but does the same apply to the AMERICAN RUMBA?

Either way, it's usually a dance of death for any male celeb, so I'm crossing my fingers for Adam (who was in the dance off last week)

[pgn]

American Roomba:

Yeah, that 110V thing might make a difference though 😂

[sheepdog]

So the American Roomba 😎 is really a simplified rumba. By the looks of this tutorial, perfectly suited to the male celeb with no hip action:

Or if you want the rather more British version: imagine a bloke at a wedding reception juggling a pint, no two pints of beer on the edge of the dance floor. @pgn and not too far away from roomba vacuuming moves 🤣

Krishnan and Lauren. Couples Choice to You can call me Al By Paul Simon

Nigel and Katya. Tango to Nothing Breaks Like A Heart by Mark Ronson ft Miley Cyrus

Angela and Kai. Waltz!! (let's keep her in another week) To Fascination . By Nat King Cole

Annabel and Johannes. Couples Choice. To Wings by Birdy

Think Krishnan has a bit of a crowd pleaser with that tune and given he's done way better over the last two weeks, quite likely safe. Two CC's and so vastly different. I particularly like Wings so expect a lots of twirls and whirls (well in my mind!). Oddly its more suited to a rumba than a ballroom. Interesting. 

NIgel needs a perfect no mistakes Tango though the tune could prove a bit difficult to get across with the dance. I give up with Angela Rippon. 

Ellie and Vito. American Smooth. to Aint that a kick in the head by Robbie Williams

Layton and Nikita. Jive. to Shake Ur Body by Shy FX, T.Power, Di. (WHO??)

Adam and Luba. Rumba to Dancing on my own by Calum Scott

I think Ellie will produce an even better performance this week but will she be the showstopper? Had to youtube Layton's tune. Er, jive music its not and basically a drum machine on loop. So expect to see the DAO having a cup of tea playing that. Lets see if he fails at this one attempting to add his flair leading him into the dance-off. 

Adam's tune happens to be the miserable cover of Robyn's hit. Hmm, 50-50 on whether this comes across well given its the Dance Of Death and is going to be a simple rumba.

Bobby and Dianne. Argentine Tango. To Sail by AWOLNATION (WHO?) 😶

Angela and Carlos. Samba. To Aint it Funny by Jennifer Lopez

No idea who AWOLNATION is but listening to it, could be ok for an AT with more muscial drama but it could be Bobby's weakest dance. As for Angela Scanlon, that's a good tune but could be a difficult one for her to sustain. 

Really hard week to pick who's going to be in the dance-off. Will need to watch ITT over the next couple of days to see what's happening. 

[Cleoriff]

Deleted 😂

[RunrigForever]

Hope to enjoy Ellie & Vito's American Smooth because I like the song - Ain't it like a Kick in the Head by Robyn Williams and I do enjoy a good AS. 

Don't know the other songs.

Having a good laugh at the black cat's leg action above @pgn 

[Cleoriff]

Layton and Nikita  Jive.

Nice to see a couple of the judges critical about footwork. Layton can't resist doing acrobatics.

I didn't like it much Scored 36

Angela and Kai. Waltz.

I think the judges must have been reading this thread. Far less gushing about her performance. In fact Motsi 'dared' to say she must start stretching herself a bit more. Too right. Footwork not so good Scored 28

Nigel and  Katya. Tango.

Much better this  week. I quite enjoyed it  Good  choreography. Scored 33

Angela and Carlos. Samba.

A shame that this was poor by her standards. Posture needed work. Scored 27

Annabel and Johannes. Couples Choice.

What a very emotional dance. Beautiful but sad. Not a dry eye in the house Scored 35

Bobby and Dianne. Argentine Tango.

I didn't recognise him. His facial expression and hair.... all change. I  like this interpretation. 3 judges over critical except Shirley who thought it was great. Scored 30.

Ellie and Vito. American Smooth.

Simply superb. She gets better and better. Dance of the night. Scored 39

Adam and Luba. Rumba.

I wanted him to be so much better but this was not a strong dance. Dance off candidate for sure Scored 27

Krishnan and Lauren. Couples Choice.

They had a chance to make this better. Too much walking although quite joyful Scored 29

I'll miss the results show until late tomorrow.

[sheepdog]

So Tess in her best dress of the series. Didn't think it quite suited her though. Claudia in what looked like a spangly version of a Star Trek uniform (For those Trekkies: The Next Generation). As for Motsi, no to the dress, yes to the hair. Shirley wore something that reminded me of the film I watched the other night: Cocaine Bear. 

Given the expense of Halloween week, I wasn't quite expecting the net zero budget of this week's outfit on everyone. 

Layton and Nikita: On first and that means it ain't good. True to form, it met that bar. Overall not bad but did it need the spin towards the end? Too much of him again. I was thinking it should have been a relentless drive jive but lots of stop start moves with the filler of him playing up. 

Angela and Kai: Distinct lack of training in the prelude video which proved right in a very simple waltz. Too simple for this point in the series and finally the judges marked her down. Still overmarked. Do you think her Couples Choice would involve a Stanah stairlift and a Zimmerframe?

Nigel and Katya: Oh a contemporary tango. Interesting. Not sure about the Milk Tray man look but kind of makes sense when Craig mentioned flippers. No obvious mistakes but Anton correctly pointed out his frame let him down. 

Angela S. and Carlos: This is what you'd expect from bridesmaids race to the dance floor at a wedding reception. Unfortunately a big step back to week 1. Noticed she's at the bottom of the leaderboard again so could be in the dance-off. 

Annabel and Johannes: Ah, this is what I expected and exactly what I got! Rightly so her best dance and now let's see her push on from this. 

Bobby and Dianne: Ah. Everything there - the look the posture, the routine and I'll give a thumbs up on the tune but just lacked the AT dynamic that said WOW. More of Diane telling him to be at the right place though that is more down to the choreographers than Bobby. Given the relative weak week of dances, I think he will be safe. 

Ellie and Vito: If you ever had to define what an American Smooth is, this is what you'd show them. Those gloves and the hand details made it just about perfect bar Craig's score. 

Adam and Luba: Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps Rumba. Like Bobby, told to be where he needs to be but sadly lacking a lot of content. Think it's more a wife pleasing dance at a wedding. 

Krishnan and Lauren: Well this video popped up on my instagram random reels today. I think it describes everything 🤣 

If I'd hazard a guess, the dance-off is between 3: both Angela's and Adam. Not looking good for Angela Scanlon as her dance was messy against the other two and judges are likely to save the cleaner moves. Between Angela Rippon and Adam, well it should be Adam but the judges have their favourite. But Bobby might be thrown into the mix then it is one of those three will go home. 

Well the Mega Musical Mediocrity is Zara Larsson. It fills a few minutes of my week anyway where I watch a cat video. 

[Cleoriff]

I forgot to mention how unwell Adam looked last night. Then I remembered reading something a few weeks ago. Looked it up and poor lad was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis earlier this year.

That would explain a lot. Until they sort the right medication regime, there is a hell of pain and swelling in every joint.

This would be exacerbated with training and dance. If he is in the bottom two, I'm hoping he's eliminated.

I say that with a heavy heart, as along with Ellie, I was supporting those two as they were in my favourite soaps (Corrie and Emmerdale). Good for him though as he has never once mentioned it whilst on the show.

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/strictly-come-dancing-adam-thomas-rheumatoid-arthritis-set-back-b...