Strictly's back.

[dubs]

Never watched it, never will.  But I do object to the constant coverage of it in the Breakfast News programme.  There's war in Ukraine, the economy is tanking but some soap actor and some dancer you've never heard of are through to the next round.  So fuckin what. 

[Thephoenix]

Never watched it, never will.  But I do object to the constant coverage of it in the Breakfast News programme.  There's war in Ukraine, the economy is tanking but some soap actor and some dancer you've never heard of are through to the next round.  So fuckin what. 

Well maybe after 52 f...ing pages about Ukraine in off topic, we're due for a bit of glitz and glamour.

[Thephoenix]

Even the tits and ass won’t get me watching this drivel.

C'mon man......get those hips moving!


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[Thephoenix]

It is noticeable how some celeb's other-halves seem to keep turning up at training sessions, usually with kids in tow, to "lend support", and invite the pro dancer round to family meals and the like.  No doubt keeping a keen eye on the dynamics.

They've heard about the 'strictly curse'.
Who will it be this time?

[Davey Dykes]

They've heard about the 'strictly curse'.
Who will it be this time?

My bet's on the shit Radio 2 travel guy who occasionally does stuff for the One Show. I'd really like to see him disappear up his own arsehole but it's far more likely to be someone else's.

[RedKettle]

Oti in a clinch I think/dream would be more vocal in an animalistic, arousing way less of the screechy chatter.  Some of the training and interview VT from the past suggests she can be quite flirty (almost horny) and sultry in her unguarded moments of affection.  And getting fun time with those GGs would be quite the highlight.

I think she is one of the sexiest women on TV. And I am not even usually a big tits fan.

[mr.bluesky]

I think she is one of the sexiest women on TV. And I am not even usually a big tits fan.

How can you not like big titties   

[Marmalade]

How can you not like big titties   

When they’re attached to a voice that can shatter windows

[mr.bluesky]

When they’re attached to a voice that can shatter windows

A problem solved by sticking your knob in her gob. 

[mr.bluesky]

C'mon man......get those hips moving!


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I often wondered what you looked like in real life Thephoenix 

[Marmalade]

I often wondered what you looked like in real life Thephoenix 

That’s him in his younger years

But I bet you thought the stick was to help him walk? But it’s actually part of his sophisticated flying stick salsa display.

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Pretty cool eh?

[Thephoenix]

I often wondered what you looked like in real life Thephoenix 

Unfortunately I can't show myself dancing for obvious reasons.
That was one of my young pupils.

But I can introduce you to Edna my dance partner for the jive.
She lives next door in our retirement complex for the permanently bewildered in the quaint Welsh village of Llayback and Prestatyn.
You can see her limbering up below.....


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[petermisc]

Never watched it, never will.  But I do object to the constant coverage of it in the Breakfast News programme.  There's war in Ukraine, the economy is tanking but some soap actor and some dancer you've never heard of are through to the next round.  So fuckin what. 

You think Strictly is drivel, but watch Breakfast TV!!

[RedKettle]

How can you not like big titties   

Oh I like them, I like them in most sizes. Not particularly fussed about them being huge.  Also more of a legs and bum man, I like a woman with a nice bum in a good fitting pair of jeans, preferably wearing boots.

[fredhiggins]

I always thought the Katya would be a real dirty piece. There's some amazing talent show this year in the celebrities - Ellie Taylor, Helen Skelton, Kym Marsh.

[fastcar669]

11 million is peanuts. The Queen had 29 million, Diana 32. 

…But I guess almost-dead celebrities are a better bet for a 13-week series than completely-dead royals! 

Cant see either of them doing a 2nd series though 

[Marmalade]

So are the peeps watching it too shy to fess up?
I’m going to admit I flicked through some of it on catch up.
I found the black teacher with the fat lady quite sexy and also the black contestant towards the end.

I’m thinking, if I’m generous, the judges must put a high value on ‘showmanship’ — if I’m polite — or rather gave the dwarf and the camp gay guy with big teeth extra marks for diversity (as their dancing was unimpressive).  On the other hand, the fat lady really pleasantly surprised me showing yes, fat people can dance.

I don’t see why gays should get special leeway. Dwarfism is different — you could see her proportions are challenging (short stubby legs don’t have the same freedom of movement).

But the star was the fat lady. — And also the judge who said to someone, “When you come on, we don’t know your routine. It turns out you didn’t either!” 

[petermisc]

So are the peeps watching it too shy to fess up?
I’m going to admit I flicked through some of it on catch up.
I found the black teacher with the fat lady quite sexy and also the black contestant towards the end.

I’m thinking, if I’m generous, the judges must put a high value on ‘showmanship’ — if I’m polite — or rather gave the dwarf and the camp gay guy with big teeth extra marks for diversity (as their dancing was unimpressive).  On the other hand, the fat lady really pleasantly surprised me showing yes, fat people can dance.

I don’t see why gays should get special leeway. Dwarfism is different — you could see her proportions are challenging (short stubby legs don’t have the same freedom of movement).

But the star was the fat lady. — And also the judge who said to someone, “When you come on, we don’t know your routine. It turns out you didn’t either!” 

I watch it on catch-up, fast-forwarding through everything except the dances, and the judging.  I like to try and anticipate the score that each judge is about to give.   I know nothing about dancing, so my score-guess is based on what the judges have said.

I find the judges tend to give most marks for technique, not showmanship, which is why some impressive dances get lower marks than I would have thought based on how much I enjoyed it.  Often the judges comment about poor footwork, poor posture, etc. but gave praise for giving a good show in order to end on a positive, but such dances tend to get low marks.  Conversely, dances that are dull can get higher than anticipated marks if the technique was good.  The judges know that the public will mainly vote based on how impressive and emotionally-charged a dance is, so tend to compensate by marking heavily on technique (like whether the dancer is leading on the correct bit of the foot for that dance, things which I don't notice).

The fat lady's dance wasn't as leaden as I thought it would be, but it wasn't very inspiring, and I certainly didn't think her the star of the show by any means.  Unless she can put more passion into it, I doubt she will last very long.  Whereas the fat bloke's dance was far more impressive, but he will need to do something with his hair or he will take someone's eye out.  I was impressed that the camp gay guy had the confidence to begin his very first dance unaccompanied, and he certainly put plenty of passion into it.  I don't recall the judges complaining too much about his technique, either, so wasn't too surprised by his marks.

[Thephoenix]

I think the judges tend to comment based on their own expertise.

That's why I'm glad that Anton has joined the panel with his ballroom expertise which has been missing since Len Goodman retired.
Motsi and head judge Shirley Ballas are the Latin American experts, and Craig is a director and choreographer of west end shows, which is why he tends to comment on the performance as a whole.

It's too early to pick winners as it's often the slow starters who steadily improve each week and surprise us later on.
There's quite a few showing early potential and on the first week's performances there could be quite a few in with a chance.

However if I had to pick 3 for the final, I'd go for the long haired fat guy,  Helen Thingy from kid's TV? and Will somebody, who I think is an actor who has a gorgeous black Mrs in the audience (who's a dancer).

[Marmalade]

I wasn't paying enough attention to bet on anyone. I liked Len Goodman while he was on the show. I felt he brought lots of expertise to his comments but still kind. I really don't like the Motsi woman's voice but she looked the fittest (and youngest?) dancer as the four of them snaked on. Also the first hairstyle she's had that I found quite pleasant. Something I noticed was Shirley's facelift. Cracking job that (no pun intended).

I see viewing figures have dropped again. I'm not sure it's just a case of anti-woke. Last year's gay fellow danced very well. You can have all sorts of connection between two dancers: but the 'romantic connection' is one that most viewers can quickly identify and associate with, and the main template for that is a man and a woman.

Similar things could be said about Dr Who. The Doctor could be anything. He/she/it could identify as an lettuce leaf with camp jokes and a speech impediment. But "flippant woke woman" is certainly not the character that was created and cemented in viewers' minds across three generations. That's your TV License money paying for that. Money into Stonewall's re-lined pockets. But they, the institution we call the Beeb, still gave us a much-loved (if lowbrow) show, and apart from the virtue signalling I didn't think it was any worse that previous years.

Nice to get everyone's 'score' once they feel like admitting it.

[akauya]

The show has it's critics on here, but the Guinness World Records has named strictly to be the world's most successful reality television format, with last year's UK final being watched by
11 million people.

Anyone joining in last year's discussion, will know that I'm a big fan and (was) participant of ballroom & Latin dancing and have watched the show from it's original format in 1950/60s.
I didn't see the need to include same sex couples as for me it went against the old traditions of the show. However I know I'm swimming against the tide, particularly as the show now has a large fan base in the LGBT community, and with the BBC wanting to be seen as 'inclusive'.

As a traditionalist, there are  still enough MF couples for me to enjoy the original choreography of the dances which were designed for mixed couples , whilst at the same time seeing how creative the pro dancers can be to showcase their same sex partners, and even more so those with disabilities.
Last year's finalists of a m/m couple versus the male pro dancing with the deaf girl, was one of the best I've seen.


Of course the show won't really be the same this year with the departure of Oti Mabuse

I like strictly (I can do a mean salsa, rumba and cha cha cha in real life too - served me well in my younger years where I used the dance to hook up with girls).

I don't mind the same sex couples, brings a little variety to what would have been a same-again season. I agree with you about Oti Mabuse, in my humble opinion she was the best female dancer on the show by far! Her moves were so precise and sharp, it was unreal.

I do watch it on record, if only to skip the wooden Tess Daly - don't mind Claudia Winkleman (she's funny).

[petermisc]

My understanding is that a "reality" show is one in which ordinary people are filmed in a contrived situation (such as Big Bro), or celebrities are filmed in real-life situations?  Strictly is a show in which celebrities are filmed in a distinctly non-real-life situation, so how does Strictly count as a "reality" show?  What is real-life about Strictly?

[Marmalade]

My understanding is that a "reality" show is one in which ordinary people are filmed in a contrived situation (such as Big Bro), or celebrities are filmed in real-life situations?  Strictly is a show in which celebrities are filmed in a distinctly non-real-life situation, so how does Strictly count as a "reality" show?  What is real-life about Strictly?

I suppose it’s just a label though. There was an episode of The Grand Tour (ok, hold the vomit lol)… Clarkson & Co said people had complained that it wasn’t ‘live’ enough. So they did a ‘live’ segment to show how boring it was ( comparatively — of course some people think the show was boring anyway). But let’s say you enjoy GT and/or SCD: if you start worrying about the degree to which it’s contrived it loses its entertainment factor. Unless the DM can ‘prove’ someone lied or faked something no-one cares. They just really want to know who’s shagging who and is it too much/not enough woke.

More interesting perhaps (at least IMO) is the question of ‘documentary’ filmmaking. However impartial a filmmaker even tries to be, there inevitably has to be some bias in editing, selection of scenes, the order in which they’re presented.

When movies were invented, the big claim was “the camera never lies”. Now we know it always lies: it’s just a question of how much.

Just my opinion.

[Thephoenix]

Well I guess all you thousands of 'Strictly' fans out there in punting land are getting your glitterballs out ready for Blackpool next week.

They've got rid of the 'inclusives', so we're down to some pretty good dancers now.
I really loved little Ellie and was sorry to see her go, but thank goodness that big galoot Tony Adams has gone.

It's hard to pick the winner now as the standard's so good.

It's great we're returning to the fabulous Blackpool Tower Ballroom, the home of ballroom dancing and the fabulous Wurlitzer organ.
Dancing on that legendary sprung floor is a special experience.

I'm a sucker for nostalgia and whilst Blackpool has seen better days, the Tower Ballroom remains a fabulous place to visit.










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[Marmalade]

Well I guess all you thousands of 'Strictly' fans out there in punting land are getting your glitterballs out ready for Blackpool next week.

They've got rid of the 'inclusives', so we're down to some pretty good dancers now.
I really loved little Ellie and was sorry to see her go, but thank goodness that big galoot Tony Adams has gone.

It's hard to pick the winner now as the standard's so good.

It's great we're returning to the fabulous Blackpool Tower Ballroom, the home of ballroom dancing and the fabulous Wurlitzer organ.
Dancing on that legendary sprung floor is a special experience.

I'm a sucker for nostalgia and whilst Blackpool has seen better days, the Tower Ballroom remains a fabulous place to visit.

First decent rumba and a very passable samba. The American smooth was beautiful to watch even if she did make a momentary fuck-up. Most of the rest I flicked through on fast forward. I’ve seen much more authentic African dancing than Mr Inclusive, the fat guy’s medley. I thought the paso doble was pretty rubbish even with the fancy props. Charleston should’ve died off from ballroom with drunken parties IMO. At least they can all more or less dance now but still too much silliness for my taste. Tower Ballroom? Yes it’s iconic, but also tiny. The sprung floor is nice for the Ballroom dances; can’t say I’ve noticed much difference for Latin ones on it. I hope they manage to celebrate the beauty of dance without dressing up in any more silly costumes.

[catweazle]

Did anybody notice Kym Marsh's outfit last week? Partly see through, with her right tit and nipple clearly visible. ( OK, I know you can see much more on t'interweb but.....)

[king tarzan]

Much better than a lot of other so called reality shit
Don't mind watching it here and there..
Amazing performances most of them..
Unlucky for the contestants who are removed, all there hard work not gone to waste, they have learned something new and kept themselves fit in the process