So sad about Strictly.

[CurlewKate]

It's been part of our family life since it started. I really wanted to think it was as wholesome and joyous and life affirming as it looked, even though I knew it probably wasn't.

And there are celebrities that I feel differently about now because they didn't blow the whistle.😢

No one is trying to exonerate Graziano. But it's a point I agree with: the producers wield a lot of power. It can't be easy for dancers who are past their professional best, which happens brutally early, to find a new career; I can well imagine them being desperate to stay on a show that gives them such a good public platform.

Honestly, the idea that pro dancers are assaulting celebrities in order to impress powerful producers and stay on the show is laughable.

Rylan has spoken about his self esteem being damaged by X Factor as well.

Swisscave
Totally agree with all you've written
Well put

There is karma sometimes though !
Didn't Simon Cowell tell 'take that's to ' get shot of the fat one ' ( Robbie ? ) and lost out on signing one of the biggest boy bands around at that time.
I believe he also wasn't keen on the Spice girls ( but might be wrong there and that was someone else ?)
Anyway , They don't always get it right.
The bbc should be ashamed at these latest allegations though. Although ( as I said before) none of it surprises me , sadly.

The old rumours that some contestants only agreed to do the show if they had Anton starts to make sense
His attitude was to adapt to his slebs; so if Jerry wanted to have high or Ann didn't want to learn the steps, rather than be flustered he just took it/covered it with "comedy." Made him a target of criticism but was a safe bet unless you were Laila Rouass. Poor lass was made to feel more worried about the possible public backlash against them (meaning they were voted out) rather than the abuse she took.

Yeh, def wouldn’t be advocates of women’s rights but I just feel a younger toxic masculinity has been allowed to develop on the show. It was allowed because these young men became eye candy for the female fans at home. Their egos got too big and there was no sense of authority to keep that in check.

@Viviennemary

Does it matter. I never watch it. But what's the big deal. Nobody is forcing any of them to take part. We are becoming a nation of softies. If you can't stand the heat .......

He has hit, kicked and spat at her.

Do you think that someone is a 'softie' for finding that unbearable?

Do you think that it's 'soft' of the show's producers to (finally, after too long it sounds) fire someone for hitting, kicking and spitting at a contestant?

I bet if it had been the norm for the women to have a chaperone at training sessions ( or even the men) they would have been slammed for wasting money or ' why does an adult need looking after ?' type allegations.
Can you imagine the ' aibu' thread about that on here ! ' talk about woke !' etc etc.
Especially as it's public money that funds the bbc ( mostly )

Ian Waite was so lovely, still remember his tango with Zoe ball.

Nope.
Bruce defended the p word and terrorist comments as saying those who were upset needed to get a sense of humour. He only backtracked when forced to.

Len could be rude and abrasive, as he was to Will. (Also complete hypocrite re what he scored on Strictly as opposed to DWTS for the $$$).

Dancing on Ice again, I'd forgotten - Jason Gardiner was accused of bullying critique (Sharon Davies), selling stories (GC) and spats with Karen Barber (the latter I think did for him) so not plain sailing there either.

I think Johannes comes across really well.

I'm pretty sure he did

He also picked on her over having a bag of Malteasers for lunch

Interesting that Fiona Phillips said 6 hours of training when now it is often 10+.

Training hours should be capped at 6 hours, with reasonable break periods, such an intense programme is not good for non-professional sports people.

And having a chaperone only works if they aren’t in awe of the pro dancer, a young intern could easily be overwhelmed.

Not sure Strictly can survive this, I won’t be watching again.

OMG! at 1.21 ish inthat video @Namename12345562 the professional is captioned as Anger Management Candidate!!

It's like hiding in plain sight. reminds me of all that Russell Brand stuff. Everyone must know this level of aggressive bullying is going on if they discuss it that openly and caption people like that on the Take 2 companion programme.

They will need some big names to attract people back who are teetering on not watching, though I wonder will that make any difference?

The chaperone thing seems to miss the point a bit - Zara was assaulted when there were other people in the studio, so being left alone with the pro was not the problem.

You're somewhat twisting my words. I'm not saying assaulting celebrities impresses the producers.

Strictly is a huge public platform. Do you not think producers/casting directors on other shows watch it for potential candidates/pay attention if talent agents talk to them about their Strictly dancer clients? (how many Strictly people also turn up on other reality shows, not to mention things like Anton and Giovanni's Italian travel show?).
Plus many of them convert Strictly fame into live shows and tours.

If a dancer can stay on it for more than one season and start to build a profile, it's potentially a powerful springboard to other work and more exposure.

Combine that desire for work/money with a pro dancer's will to win and competitive nature, plus the 'old-fashioned' training methods many of them probably experienced themselves, and you can see how assaults might happen.

Again, though, I want to be clear that I don't think for a second this excuses such behaviour; just that this context goes some way to explaining how a pro might feasibly behave badly towards their celeb.

I think it's time for it to die. It's absolutely dominated the BBC for way too many years. If you don't watch it or aren't interested you can't avoid it, it's plugged all the time on the radio and TV all year round.

Agree wholeheartedly with some of the comments about changing the presenters.

When we watched a live show Tess was very very nervous reading her lines before filming. At that point Bruce Forsyth was the main host, and both he and Claudia, who was in a separate gallery interviewing the contestants, were very natural and spontaneous with the audience. Tess was not natural or comfortable in front of the camera.

I always liked the thought of Alexander Armstrong as a host. He would bring depth and maturity to the show, and could entertain the audience. I don't think he would be a strictly sycophant either, and Tess could go back to presenting the links. However I love the idea of Micheal ball he would be great too.

Really? Absolutely dominated all year? Not my experience. Especially not just after everything has absolutely been dominated by boring football 🥱