Strictly 2025

[sheepdog]

@Cleoriff @RunrigForever 

And how time flies! Time for the annual reveal of this years Strictly cast of celebs. Oh who am I kidding, let's just pick the anonymity out of the dustbin that is the BBC budget for a flagship show. So before the exciting questions of "Who is this" and "Que?" followed by "Weren't they on Eastenders a decade ago?" and the inevitable "Guess who's needs a career boost", we must mention the new and exciting changes.

First, in a very thoughtful and provoking group session in the BBC canteen, same old judges line-up and we'll get more of I, Claudia propped up by Tess Daley emerging from her yearly hibernation box who may sport another subtle cosmetic procedure. DAO is likely to return as Oasis are still on tour. 

Though in rather more salacious news, there is a drug investigation by the BBC into two "Strictly stars". Which was submitted in March but hey, a new series of Strictly needs all exposure as possible so was announced a few days ago. Must disengage cynical mode....and two new dancers to join Neil Jones as backing dancers: Alexis Warr and Julian Caillon. Usual pro-dancers and yet we still have Katya Jones? 

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey

First up, because the BBC really need Gladiators to be successful and everyone will be copy & pasting his name cos I ain't typing it. Former athlete and er, current Gladiator. Could do reasonably well but may find himself in the dance-off mid-series because someone has to.

Alex Kingston

Various roles over the years and this years older woman contestant so far. Could be fun or could be not. 

Dani Dyer

Not Danny Dyer and just to remind you who she is, the BBC has kindly put up a photo with Danny Dyer. Famous for being Danny Dyer's daughter and being on Love Island but mainly being Danny Dyer's daughter as seen in the photo. Dubious EE link but we await to see if Danny Dyer will be announced as a contestant to remind everyone who the daughter of Danny Dyer is.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Legend. And my favourite so far to bring the entertainment. Possibly some decent footwork coming from a footballer but we'll see. Probably won't help him find a new club to manage though.

[TallTrees]

Look forward to your write up @Cleoriff 

When you are ready. 

👋 for now 😊

[sheepdog]

Not the only one missing the live show! 2hrs and 5 mins but the fast forward button improves that. 

Tess & Claudia in matching white outfits. Well not sure what Tess was wearing -  more like a sheet wrapped to make a cape off the shoulder. 

Flying through the fillers on iplayer:

Karen & Carlos: ooh someone's been paying attention to my comments! More elegance more femininity and a pretty good opening routine. Her best yet. Now just a little more control in the arms. A respectable 27.

Harry & Karen: Lets get ready to rumba? And not that bad at all making him a firm favourite to go quite a long way and they'll make him do this one again come the final. Thought it could be a touch slower but transitions from fast to slow and back again were impressive. Transitions also need to be worked on. As for the DAO singer, that was a screech and a half you don't want to hear again. 26 a reasonable score for a male rumba.

Vickee & Kai: Urgh, not a remix of La Isla Bonita I wanted to hear. Rather flat for a samba and a bit stompy in places. Better than last week but possible in danger of being out before her time. An overmarked 28. 

Stefan & Diane: went on a bit about missing last week which nobody cared about. Which might have continued into the start of the dance which took ages. Very little content for a charleston bar the cartwheel and more of a safety dance than anything. Exit in two weeks. Scored 26 for some reason likely to be the audience figures for next week.

Lewis & Katya: could we get 4 weeks with the same acrobatic move again? Oooh a wind machine...now I was critical of Stefan taking ages and so did this one but that's how to do an opening! No signature acrobatic move and the Foxtrot? Well that was something special. Also week 4! Scored a deserved 34.

Jimmy & Lauren: Family card played. Couples choice which was ok with plenty of er, rotation. Actually I didn't like Lauren in this dance which is quite rare. Think Craig has it right in that he needs to be "bigger" and more expressive. A mixed score of 29. 

George & Alex: not a good start of having Coldplay as your tune and to a Tango. And if you thought that was bad enough, you really shouldn't pay attention to the DAO singer either. Rather boring for a tango in my opinion and probably too stiff leading to some messy steps. A step back this week I'm afraid. Scored 30 and that was overmarked. 

La retour & Alijaz: Cha cha cha. No no no. I've give him credit for dancing in heels every week but this wasn't a good routine. Some good moves but overall, messy and not much technique involved. And worst costumes of the night so far. Dance-off exit beckoning. Unsurprisingly scored 14 and is probably the lowest score I recall for a week 4 ever.

Balvinder & Julian: Paso Yo! Would have got a bonus point if he actually played the Cajon. I quite liked this routine, no flashy tricks just straight drama of the dance. She just needs a little bit of stability at times and few other fixes. Scored an agreeable 28. 

Alex & Johannes:  rumba or rum and coke? Think she won't want to repeat this one (and in a good way) but pulled out a relatively good dance. Looks like Johannes has got a long run this series. Scored a highly respectable 36 with Shirley giving a 10 for some reason. 

Chris & Nadiya: Mum card played. Chips & Salsa. All the things wrong: slow, lack of energy and moves in a square box on the floor, far too many lifts for a salsa coupled with a distinct lack of technique. Nadiya dancing was excellent but I'll give him credit, this was a good one for him especially the lifts which may save him from being in the dance-off again. An uplifting score of 24. 

Amber & Nikita: AT. This early on in the series, the expectations are quite low because we just know 😉 And lets just say everyone else's AT is now going to have to be at this level as it is now set high. Great routine and great ending. Anton totally wrong. The score of 33 seemed a touch undermarked.

Ellie & Vito: Couples choice to end the night which after the previous contestants showing (well almost all), had to be good. Which unfortunately was more of the same as the previous weeks of arm throwing, throwing herself into everything and ungainly footwork making it more of a tour of the dancefloor doing the same thing in each corner. I'm guessing there was very little pro-dancer input to the routine. Judges avoiding the simple fact there is no technique here. An absolutely ridiculous score of 31. 

And so to the leaderboard:

Craig has the casting vote in kicking off La Voix. Even it does go right, it's not a strong enough routine to beat Chris but maybe an outside chance to beat Stefan. Knowing the BBC we're likely to get Karen and Harry thus robbing us of a decent contestant.  

MMA is Leanne Pillock, which is what I heard anyway, but google tells me she's an uninteresting part of Little Mix. 

[Cleoriff]

Week 4 

Karen and Carlos. Q/S

Much improved. There was a little slip but she recovered well. Needs to watch her arms Scored 27

Harry and Karen. Rumba. An excellent dance, spoiled only by the drooling Shirley and Motsi. Scored 26

Vicky and Kai : Samba. A real improvement from last week. Good performance and choreography Scored 28

Stefan and Dianne. Charleston 'This Don't Impress Me Much' although the timing was good. Scored 26

Lewis and Katya Foxtrot.What a beautiful dance. On my winners list for sure. Well deserved  34

Jimmy and Lauren. Couples Choice. Another lovely dance, dedicated to his family. Occasionally out of sync. Scored 29

George and Alexis. Tango. Oh dear George. Took a step back in my opinion. Annoyingly the judges  gave a similar critique, then marked him with 30.

Posting this now as it's taken too long. Continued below.

[Cleoriff]

La Voix and Aljaz. Cha Cha Cha, How awful. No Cha cha moves. Terrible costumes. Scored 14

Balvinder and Julian. Paso Doble. A simple Paso. Poor footwork at  time. Graceful arms Didn't set me on fire. 

Scored 28. 

Alex and Johannes. Rumba. A great dance but reaction from judges (particularly Shirley was OTT ) calling her the Rumba queen. Scored 36

Chris and Nadiya. Salsa. Great lifts and poor dance. No improvement Scored 28 (overmarked)

Amber and Nikita Argentine Tango. What an excellent dance. Considering it's week 4, I couldn't fault it. 

Undermarked at 33

Ellie and Vito. Couples Choice. The judges have to start being honest. Sick of hearing how joyful she is. 

She made a real mess of that dance, stomping around and throwing her arms in the air. Just because she's got Downs syndrome doesn't mean she she shouldn't be critiqued. Im afraid she's going to come crashing down with a real bang. Given a ridiculous score of 31

Oh yes and the MMA is Leanne Pinnock from Little Mix. 😂

***** @sheepdog 

The US F1 starts at 7pm so my comments will appear later tonight (after I have flicked through the boring bits of SCD.) 😂

[TallTrees]

Strictly Saturday show 

When first saw Tess D. Thought she had forgotten it wasn't Halloween night, looked ghostly and ghastly, silly CW in matching white. 

My favourite 

Lewis and Katya

Didn't like and quite disappointed with

Blavinda and Julian 

Ellie and Vito : not dancing

La Voix and Aljaz : really terrible 

Judges can't keep giving Ellie big marks for very poor dancing certainly worse than last time. How is that going to end.

There was some very good dancing.

[sheepdog]

And to the results show so look away now if you don't want to know the results. Needless to say you will be disappointed like Liverpool fans today 😉

Tess & Claudia matching black outfits. Tick boxes for both and Claudia adding texture to her hair! Pro-routine lacked any sort of clarity and tune so err-ing on the bad side of centre which was probably the poor choice in tune. 

Again we were subjected to a 3 way split to find out the bottom two. With a shock public vote saving La Voix. Seriously but kudos to admitting how rubbish it was and equally shocked at being saved. Thankfully both Harry & Karen avoided the dance-off leaving, eventually, Chris to fight it out with Balvinder.

Which in my opinion Chris did execute better had more energy and obviously lack of technique whilst Balvinder walked more than the first time and was noted for errors. However, based on the dance-off alone, Motsi bizarrely saved Balvinder and both Shirley & Anton agreed with me and in the spirit of the criteria of the dance-off. Craig, on the hand with the casting vote, decided that based on the dance-off alone he wanted see Balvinder next week because of potential. 

Next week is icons week and they've spoilt it all by telling us what their icons are and to what tunes so expect total disappointment. 

MMA was truly awful with a guitarist and drummer doing something that didn't relate to the music.  Did the seemingly obligatory audition for the next series because frankly there was nothing in that tune. By the looks of those moves, week 2 is a high probability. A career in reality tv beckons for Leigh-Anne with early exits also a high probability of occurrence. 

[Cleoriff]

It seems the public don't like the character Balvinder plays in Eastenders. 

She certainly didn't deserve to be in the bottom two. 

Having said that, she was worse tonight. 

Chris was much better.

Also Craig broke the rules. You don't save someone because of potential!

You choose the best dancer ON THE NIGHT!

MMA was awful. Thinking of Lang Lang last week... and just no comparison.

Icons week next. I missed those so it will be a surprise

I'm sure F1 was far more exciting😂

[TallTrees]

Strictly Sunday

Well all I can say in short "ridiculous"

- edited to add "darling" 😅

The non-dancers kept.  It must be very demoralising to know you were much better than the 2 non-dancers Voix and Ellie but out.  🙄

[Cleoriff]

I think the judges patronise Ellie. Yes she has Downs but so what?

She was considered good enough to dance on Strictly. They need to start giving her proper constructive criticism. When she starts doing proper ballroom dances, they have to talk about her arms and footwork,

If they don't she will be shocked when she finds herself in the bottom two. Stop telling her she's joyful. No she's not. She's out of time constantly and her mistakes covered up by Vito. 

[RunrigForever]

Just to say how much I appreciate the views of @Cleoriff @sheepdog @TallTrees 

I do watch SCD, but am short of watching the whole of the weekend shows = I become distraught / frustrated / anguished. I tend to listen to some melodic music not DAO & singers. Agreed with Shirley voting 2 for La Voix. Aljaz did not help his partner, he is a professional dancer. I tend to look forward to the professionals demonstration, but that is very hit & miss. I don't watch ITT but I should like to have a look in the haberdashery department of SCD. I thought Chris did a decent job on Saturday.