Layton Williams in Strictly

[Char65]

I am a big fan of Strictly but I have lost interest in it this year because of Layton Williams as he is a professional dance. His CV reads

2007–2008: Billy Elliot the Musical
2008–2009: Beautiful People
2016: Hairspray the Musical UK Tour - playing Duane
2016-2017: Rent UK Tour - playing Angel
2017-2018: Hairspray the Musical UK Tour - playing Seaweed J. Stubbs
2018-2019: Kiss Me Kate - playing Bill Calhoun/Luciento
2019-2022: Everyone's Talking About Jamie - playing Jamie New

He was also in a Michael Jackson show - and I believe Jackson could dance a bit!

To me its no fair to pitch a pro against amateurs though I accept a lot of actors have also done dance at stage school but not appeared in the West End like this guy! What do others think?

Giovanni's couple's choice dances with Faye and with Rose were amazing dances and it was nice to get them mid-season, but I do agree overall with scrapping CC - it meant their final performances felt like they did two showdances as they both repeated them (I think?) and it dilutes it a little. For weaker dancers it feels like a free pass - never mind about rules and technique, just leap about to the Backstreet Boys after an emotional VT and sail through the vote.

Or... here's an idea... some latin & ballroom!! 😂

Giovanni's CCs were so good because he deliberately went for something difficult and with a known style of its own. The trouble with a lot of CCs is that they are something nebulous like streetdance or contempowaft, and there's very little for the judges to go on as there are no rules attached to them.

I could definitely go for something like jazzdance (including Fosse style dance) being a separate category if they got rid of CC.

It irked me that they didn’t say that the professionals group Fosse dance a few weeks ago was Fosse inspired as not everyone would know that.

I felt Nigel’s couples choice was quite Luigi inspired (whether deliberate or not)

Anyone who has been in not one but two Matthew Bourne productions has no business pretending they are just some sleb being taught how to dance and being judged on the same platform as those who don't making a living dancing.

Totally agree with this, its totally unfair.

@taxi4ballet you’re right, Layton was being flashier and trying to out do Nikita and that’s what felt off. He definitely puts himself first.

Yeah, it stuck out a mile. Very bad form.

It was interesting that Bobby joked about how surprised he was that the professional dancers learnt his routine in about 2 hours when it took him 3 days! That's because they are professional dancers- like Layton! I didn't mind his dance last night though, even though he's a ringah!

Layton does need to go fairly soon, it really isn’t in the spirit of the show.
I do think the single sex couples have a harder job to do as there is often more side by side mirrored dancing. Usually it makes it glaringly obvious who is the beginner, but as others have said not so much with Layton showing off.

I love Carlos

Layton should get through to the final because it’s an entertainment show and there are a lot of us that get a huge amount of enjoyment from watching him