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Strictly - Snog fallout

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zico
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Strictly - Snog fallout

#174097

Postby zico » October 16th, 2018, 11:58 am

A bit of scene-setting preamble this week following the almighty brouhaha surrounding Katya & Sean(n)’s decision to secretly snog in a street where anyone could see them, including crucially, a person with a camera-phone. How unlucky was that? It’s fair to say that Sean’s girlfriend has not shrugged this off, accusing him of lying and gaslighting, and generally sending a grenade under his reputation, including the damaging accusation that he added an extra “n” to his name to sound more showbizzy. Sean(n) exercised his right of reply in midweek, saying “my friends know that’s not the man I am” while Katya said “at least my relationship is still OK and that’s all that matters”.
I doubt they’ll be dancing to any of the following songs this week.
“Shoop Shoop song (It’s in his kiss)”, “Thorn in my side”, “I was only joking”, “Crush”, “Don’t leave me this way”, “Do you really want to hurt me?”, “You’ll never know”, “Part time lover”, “I don’t wanna talk about it” and of course, “Don’t cha” by the Pussycat Dolls.

Onto the actual show. Tess has a scarf wound round her neck, and is wearing a one-shouldered dress, as is Claudia but it looks like someone simply cut the strap to create Claudia’s one-shouldered look. Craig is wearing two-tone golf shoes and Shirley is rocking a silver mermaid dress. A sly comment from Claudia about it being a quiet week, and off we go.

Joe & Dianne (Cha-cha). Joe’s a bit stiff and he looks gangly as ever. Judges say he’s watchable, while Bruno nails it by saying he needs to be careful that all his dances don’t just look a bit the same. Darcey tells him the cha-cha is hard for a celeb (usually code for “that was poor”). Sensible 5 from Craig, followed by 3 7’s (oh, come on!) for 26.

Vick & Graziano (Quickstep). Their routine includes a pretend boat so Graziano takes Vick out on a rowing boat, while Vick optimistically shouts “Tally ho!” though they’ll be lucky to catch any foxes from a rowing boat on the Serpentine. Vick does her routine well and confidently, and this was her best dance yet. She's not my favourite but this was entertaining stuff and nice to see someone improve a lot. Happy judges give her 7,7,7,8 for 29.

Danny & Amy (Viennese Waltz). They’re dancing to “For One Night Only” which might turn out to be an apt song choice if they’re in the bottom two. There’s still something not right about this partnership, as they look to have two different dance styles, with Danny being quite sharp and Amy more fluid – it just doesn’t gel. Craig tells Danny he’s too stiff and a bit skippy. 6,7,7,7 for 27.

Faye & Giovanni (Rumba). This is sensuous and I really like the way Faye is presenting this, though at the same time it looks like she’s not that in control of her body here. Judges give her technique a bit of a panning. Faye shrugs off Giovanni’s attempted arm round the shoulder. Claudia tells them the judges didn’t feel it, and Giovanni says “I felt it”. Not sure Faye felt it, but I’m with Giovanni on this. 7,7,7,8 for 29 points.

Katie & Gorka (Jive). Katie takes Gorka off to the re-hab unit she supports. Katie has had a properly tough week with her acid attacker having been just released from prison. They do a 50’s schoolkids routine, but Katie really isn’t musical and keeps getting out of time, which Craig points out and tells her she was sloppy. Darcey tells her she’s sweet, adorable, and utterly patronizable. 3,5,5,5 for 18 points.

Charles & Karen (Salsa). This is a disco salsa, and really suits Charles who slightly sends himself up (I hope) as some irresistible love-god, peeling off his tops for the audience, shaking his hips, and doing some tricky lifts with Karen. Good fun, really enjoyed that and thought it was Charles’s best dance. Crowd liked it too. However the judges have a completely different view and take turns to pan his technique while Charles (and Karen) look steadily more puzzled. Scores are pretty harsh - 6,6,6,7 for 25 points, giving Charles the unenviable distinction of scoring 25 in all his dances. Karen is trying hard not to show her true feelings at these scores, but I’m betting there’ll be some angry words said backstage.

Lauren & AJ (Quickstep). Lauren’s timing is much better this week, and she seems to be enjoying the dance and doing it well, which is good to see. Craig says there were a few mistakes but overall it was much better than previous weeks. 6,6,6,7 for 25.

Ranj & Janette (Paso). Dr.Ranj takes Janette to his workplace at A&E where we see him chatting to a little girl saying “would you like to see our dance?” Little girl is clearly unimpressed and obviously thinking “I’m in A&E you fool, with a broken leg. Just get on with fixing my leg and shut up about your dancing. What bit of "Accident" and "Emergency"" don't you understand?”. Ranj is a bit short and inflexible to do a great paso, but he gives it a good go with a bit of flamenco and gets praise from the judges. A bit of a return to form for him, and he scores 6,7,7,7 for 27 points.

Kate & Aljaz (Samba). Kate has been selling her dances really well, but the samba needs actual dancing technique and samba bounce, which is proving to be a problem for her in training. She gives it a go, but this is a bit of a mess, and she’ll just be hoping to somehow get through this week on viewer votes. Craig says the routine belonged behind the news desk. 4,5,5,6 for 20.

Graeme & Oti (Jive). Graeme is clearly testing Oti’s patience by being himself in training, refusing to listen and trying to be funny. They start off dressed as astronauts to waste a bit of jive time, then Graeme reveals a bright pink suit and keeps pretty good time in the jive. The big problem about this partnership is that sometimes you can’t see Oti because Graeme is in the way. Judges praise him for keeping time, but criticise his terrible posture. Craig talks about Graeme’s gurning, of which there was a lot. 5,7,7,7 for 26.

Most judges tonight seem to be on a quest to give 7’s if they can get away with it, and as a result the leaderboard is getting very congested.
Ashley & Pasha (Tango). So, in rehearsal, Ashley is like, so in trouble because the tango is so difficult. If only she was a trained dancer – oh wait, she is. So, Ashley is so not in trouble for her actual routine, to nobody’s surprise. She does a good tango face and is quite fierce in this. Darcey says that when Ashley gets tired, her shoulders and neck disappear. OK. Some of the judges have been gently reminded they have paddles which aren’t “7” and Ashley gets 4 8’s for 32.

Sean(n) & Katya (Charleston). In training, Sean(n) and Katya are with their Charleston choreographer, and it’s explained to the audience that the previously never-seen choreographer is always used by the dancers for Charleston routines, and is not at all there as a chaperone. Oh no. Perish the thought. They’re dressed in “Where’s Wally” red-striped tops and Katya does another new impressive move, running up Sean(n)’s back before standing on his shoulders and jumping off. Sean(n) jumps around and keeps reasonable time, but this all looks a bit sloppy from him. Judges seem surprisingly tolerant of the sloppy bits and pile on the praise. Up with Claudia, Katya says happily “it’s been an amazing week” which is more than a tad tactless, when you consider she’s publicly embarrassed her husband, Sean(n)’s girlfriend has been humiliated, their relationship is over, and he’s been vilified in public. Judges give 6,7,8,7 for 28. Really Shirley? 8 for that? This seems deeply fishy marking.

Stacey & Kevin (Foxtrot). Stacey has a 60’s look and this routine is fun and lively. Grimsby makes a return as their routine is about them being stranded in Grimsby. Stacey doesn’t look to put a foot wrong. Shirley goes bananas over Stacey’s heel leads. Good stuff, but then Stacey spoils it a bit by screaming as they go up the stairs. 8,8,8,9 for 33 put them on top of the leaderboard.

A bit surprised at how close most of the scores were, but it looks like the judges have put Sean(n) & Katya far enough up the leaderboard to keep them out of the bottom 2 even if they get no public votes at all. A bad week for Kate who’s only just above Katie. Feel sorry for Charles who’ll probably be in the bottom two again, I’m guessing with Lauren (as I think Katie will pick up a lot of sympathy votes.

RESULTS SHOW

Opening pro dance is a bit dull, and really only entertaining for anyone who likes watching dancers in basques and thigh-high boots. First set of results – Vick, Ranj (to his relief), Stacey, Ashley, Graeme, Faye, Danny and then – Charles in the bottom two again. He says he’s devastated and also says “it played out the way it was meant to play out” which is a nice understated way of saying “fix”. Thankfully Tess doesn’t ask Shirley to speculate further on why the great British public really don’t like him at all.

Musical interlude is from the Backstreet Boys playing a medley of their greatest hits. Weren’t they a thing in the 90’s? Anyway, they are Backstreet Middle-Aged Men now, with decidedly odd tastes in fashion, and dodgy beards. They don’t have any pro dancers for their medley as they think we’ll be so fascinated by their “Full Monty” dance moves (step forward and appeal for offside), that we won’t miss the pros. Not true.

We hear about the revolutionary new update to Strictly – the “Couples’ Choice” which sounds odd, but actually means the couples can choose from 3 dance styles –
“Contemporary” – i.e. floaty clothing and ballet moves.
“Street” – hip-hop and booty-shaking which was literally Ashley’s day-job in Pussycat Dolls.
“Theatre and Jazz” – this category includes Burlesque, and you just know Graeme Swann will want to do this, so let’s hope he’s eliminated before he can subject us all to a dance that we’ll never be able to unsee.

More results – Sean(n) through, cue Katya saying “thank you” to the camera, then Lauren, Kate and hopefully Joe might be in the bottom 2 but no it’s Katie. British sentimentality clearly isn’t a thing anymore. In the dance-off Katie is a bit better, but still miles worse than Charles, and she’s out. Charles seems emotional when the results are being announced, either he’s sad that Katie is going out, or he’s feeling sorry for himself. Let’s give him the benefit of any doubt and assume he’s sad for Katie. Katie and Gorka give gracious speeches about enjoying their short time on Strictly and what an amazingly positive person Katie is. Sean(n) appears to be very much on the fringes of the group hug at the end.

Given Katie being in the bottom two, it does look as if Sean(n) was marked highly by the judges to avoid the possibility of him also being in the dance-off and the embarassment of the judges having to put him through at Katie's expense.

Have the Great British public really forgiven Sean(n) & Katya? Who knows, but it’ll probably keep competing for headlines with Brexit, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and other minor stuff for a week or two. Personally I hope they go next week, not because of any moral judgement, simply because their continued presence is making things a bit uncomfortable and providing a dose of unwelcome reality among the escapist glitter of Strictly.

dionaeamuscipula
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Re: Strictly - Snog fallout

#174660

Postby dionaeamuscipula » October 18th, 2018, 11:45 am

Some random thoughts:

I was sure enough based on Vick's week one dance that she was a stage schooler that I looked her up, but nooooooooooo she did modern languages at Cambridge having gone to a normal school.

Danny is a fab dancer but then he bleedin' well ought to be given that he is more of a pro than Jill Halfpenny.

Faye was technically good, we thought, but looked like she would rather be dancing with someone - anyone - else.

Charles comes across as if he is his own biggest fan. We don't like him.

AJ is doing a brilliant job with Lauren.

We voted last week (on line so no cost) but this week the kids all decided that getting involved was too much and they'd rather watch from the sidelines.

DM


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