To not be enjoying strictly as much this year?

[Midge1978]

Judging seems very biased, they seem to pick a 'fall' guy or girl each week who they underscore so that Alexandra stays in. Shirley's dreadful nasally grating voice patronising everyone, Bruno flapping about and saying nothing, Tess and Claudia's dreadful 'comedy' skits, the dumbed down "in training" VTs that show bugger all actual training. Feel like I might not bother with it next year!

same here, Not too keen at the moment. Can't stand Alexandra (when she talks). How many clichés can she come up with. 'He's like a brother to me'. Really.

And favouritism from the word go. This makes me feel very uncomfortable. And Debbie is a trained dancer so it's totally unfair.

There's always trained dancers. Alex was in some musical theater thing recently, Aston was in a boy band - it might not be Debbies level X years ago but its more than say Holy Dude or Chef. I'm actually surprised how bad Mollie is as I assumed she'd have some basic talent being in a girl band.

• it's no where near as good as the US version Dancing With the Stars. Everything there is better, from lighting, to sets, to professional dancers, to costumes, to the style in which the dancing is filmed (why chop their feet off shots, BBC?)

It clearly has way more money and week 2 there is easily equivalent to the semi final in the UK. It's just laughable how much better everything is.

• That said, I would still love Strictly if they'd kept what they'd done in the first five series and donated the phone in profits to charity (sport relief and then children in need). It is utterly pathetic how now they don't. That money makes more difference to the dancers themselves dancing on the night of children in need... and yet all that extra money hasn't made a single bit of improvement to the show! (See point 1).

I never realised Joe had worked in musical theatre....was in Chitty a while ago (which involves some dance routines, hence why his Cabaret routine was so good on Saturday).
It would be a dull show if everyone was a Susan, Richard Coles or Ruth.

I am ambivalent towards Alexandra mostly, but really struggled with her Charleston... The music was slowed down, making it feel sluggish, and the costume was awful. It was hard to enjoy cause I felt like the tempo was dragging so much.

I was a huge fan of Jonnie and gutted when he left - no, he wasn't the best dancer, but he's an amputee - his ability to rise and fall, to maintain posture... It's all changed by the prosthesis. Sometimes I felt he was being criticised for things beyond his control.

I'd like Joe to win.

Actually, I think Alex (and Debbie to a lesser extent) are in a difficult situation. The judges rarely breathe a word of criticism and frequently overmark them - and I think this makes the viewers less likely to vote for them. I suspect if the judges weren't so clearly favouring them then their share of the public vote would rise.

I lost trust when Aston was voted out…wtf! We should have boycotted the show in protest. I sort of have now by mud netting whilst it’s on.
Don’t like most of them~
Shirley is too technical
Alex it’s all been said. Of course she can dance!
Debbie can dance obvs but I can’t stand the 80s hair style
Couldn’t stand the way Davood’s partner was always so physical with him during the feedback.

AJ is a wonderful choreographer but Mollie is clueless
I love the dancers and watch some of the routines in awe- Oti is amazing! Aston would have won because people like him ( they should release the public voting stats and fair enough the lowest vote goes, but I don’t think Aston was the lowest by a long way) whereas they don’t like Debbie or Alex. Joe will win.

Mumsnetting not mud netting!

I am also not enjoying the show this year, and my reasons echo many of those posted above:

• Poor casting this year
• awful theme weeks
• inappropriate music choices
• additional dancers, props, special effects. Just stop it!
• Tess. Ghastly patronising, cringy handholding and faux drama
• Claudia's skits (although I find her quite witty when left to her own devices)
• the singing seems to have gone downhill
• audience clapping throughout routines and booing as soon as Craig speaks. I'm sure they are told to do this but Craig is the only judge who talks sense, and scores appropriately
• the over marking far too early in the season. A 10 used to be rare and special.
• ugly costumes and make up
• Alexandra. Deeply unlikeable personality, fake Oscar winning type speeches and a nasty sense of entitlement. Why her clodhopping charleston was judged as perfect is beyond me.

I so wish they would simplify and pare it down. Like a PP, a return to just 2 or 3 dances per week so that comparisons could be more effectively made. Training VTs that just showed the training and didn't seek for outlandish connections with the dance, these remind me of the tortuous clues on 3 2 1, all those years ago.

I don't think the BBC listens to its audience though, so I have no hope for the future. Like another poster, we record the show and just watch the dances and the marks, whizzing through everything else.

The VT's are like some weird date experience 😕

I

Strictly is the best thing on the telly - except for Tess, who shouts her way through the shows and her attempts at humour make me cringe. Wish Claudia was the main presenter tbh - I think she is much more natural and far wittier than Tess. I thought Alexandra's Charleston was very heavy and clumpy this last week, and I've grown tired of her waterworks and fake 'little old me' act. Davood's partner reminded me of a preying mantis - I wouldn't trust her! Joe's dancing is really coming on - he's one to watch. I've never been a Debbie fan but have warmed to her during this series. I hope she wins.

YABU It is still glittery, feathery well-produced Saturday Night fodder.

Judges very biased, they seem to pick a 'fall' guy or girl each week who they underscore so that Alexandra stays in.

week 1 Aston
week 2 Alex (paso)
week 3 Aston
week 4 Alex (jive)
week 5 Debbie
week 6 Debbie
week 7 Debbie
week 8 Davood/Alex (AT)
week 9 Alex (QS)
week 10 Joe/Debbie
week 11 Alex/Debbie

Alex has been top of the leaderboard six/eleven occasions: four times with four very good routines, the last two weeks with a paso-rigathon and charleston routine the public didn't take to so didn't vote for.
There haven't been any fall guys - the eliminees are usually a result of poor costume, theming or coming to the end of their technical ability.
So Susan wasn't a fall girl - I loved her but technically, her bench-bothering was wobbly as fuck.
And David wasn't a fall guy - Phantom made for a lousy AT where you need sex and smoulder. If you want to blame anyone for that it would have been overmarking of Mollie not Alex (And I say that as one who wasn't swayed by Mary Poppins)

Shirley's dreadful nasally grating voice patronising everyone she's been a breath of fresh air are you Brendan?

Bruno flapping about and saying nothing, Tess and Claudia's dreadful 'comedy' skits, the dumbed down "in training" VTs that show bugger all actual training. erm...since series 12 if not earlier

Plus this blogger is still fab-u-lous dahling!

monkseal.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/strictly-come-dancing-15-week-11-performance/

Until now Mollie and AJ really annoyed me but I was with Shirley on Saturday. They did a perfect Rumba to the music they were given! Darcy was way out of line suggesting that Mollie should have put more "umpf" in to the perfomance - how on earth was she supposed to do that whilst portranyig an innocent Sandy to "Hopelessly devoted to you"??? Blame the producers if you like but not AJ or Mollile (and this is from someone who has never yet defended or voted for them).

I really want to see an AB versus Debbeh dance-off though. They are both professional dancers and haven't progressed at all from week one. Debbie REALLY annoys me with her VTs which all say "poor me, this week was SO hard, I have a back injury and I'm 59 years old. (never mind the fact that she's more fit than most 20-year-olds, what with having been a prima ballerina and then a magician's sidekick)..." Both of them will suffer from the judges' overmarking IMO. The public dont like either of them as a result.

Illegal lifts you deduct a point, so Shirley giving them a 9 was overmarking, the routine wasn't a 10. She screwed up by marking Gemma too high (gapping!) so had nowhere left to go. I liked Mollie and AJ for what it's worth but would not have given it the same mark as Joe's.

I don't understand how Auntie hasn't noticed that Everyone Knows it's all filmed on Saturday

So true. You can even practically see Tess and Claudia cringing when they're saying inane things like "let's look back at Saturday night" or something similar when they film it while we're all still voting on the Saturday. BBC want to spin it out by having a second results show on a Sunday but the result is out there by 10pm on a Saturday if you know where to look. We always look at the spoiler but still watch the results- mainly for the group dances which are amazing.

They need to cut the fake live stuff on the Sunday. Allow Claudia to be herself without the forced comedy. Sack the casting director and get someone better for next year.

Is anyone going to the Tour? We have tickets and by this stage last year they'd announced nearly all of the dancers. This year, they've announced Susan and Johnnie, with Ore hosting. It's all very strange.

It's the first year I am not bothering with the tour.

Len was awful, especially in the last few years. I don't miss him at all. Shirley at least appreciates good technique.
Erin was far better on It takes Two than Karen Hardy so no, I wouldn't want Karen as a judge.

Hate the judges' inconsistency about things like the ten-second rule which seemed to appear out of nowhere or illegal lifts. Craig, much as I love him, is bad for this.

The stuff about the AJ/Mollie romance (surely not?) is childish and cringey. Stop it, Tess and Claudia.

Aston is a great loss but his Viennese Waltz was awful - the choreography, costume, theme and the way he performed. All the story-telling and themes get on my nerves anyway and ruined his dance.

But I love Strictly in spite of all its faults!

My sister literally only just found out this year the results are filmed on Saturday. I don't know where she's been.

I don't miss Len at all, agree he was not great the last few years anyway.

I know it's always been stage managed and fake drama manufactured, but it just feels so obvious this year and I can't be bothered with it. I do think the casting hasn't been great too.