Strictly Come Dancing

[carrotsandpeasifyouplease]

Starts on Saturday!!
I can't find any contestant rumours other than Goldie, does anyone know of any?
Is Alesha back? can only find articles about her not signed contract yet.
No results show apparantly and new format for voting, can't wait - Winter is here.

Sadly I'm not in tomorrow night to watch the show (we're going to see Jimmy Carr's new show) so won't be on the thread till I've seen it on Sunday morning. Hope you all enjoy it!

yes fimbo

HRHCarvey, I used to dance a lot in Southampton but am further west so close to Bournemouth which has a good salsa scene.

DH doesn't dance either so I end up going on my own. Used to do lots of salsa weekends before I had ds.

Whereabouts are you?

i love strictly!

wasn't looking forward to this year so much - i will miss the pros like ian and lilia.

i also think they should get rid of brucie and tess and shake up the judges panel - alesha is plain annoying as is bruno. i think craig can be very cutting (stating the obvious!!) but it seems to me that he also 'critiques' the most and actually gives advice on how to improve. often the other judges marks don't make sense, they seem to give out the same marks - e.g len's famous 7 - for routines that are clearly poles apart.

think karen hardy would make a good judge and anton to take over from bruce!

is on Youtube now ]

love karen hardy, i hope she's on itt every day.
thought it was a bit rubbish last night, in a way they all seemed pretty good considering. i like a disaster.
pamela was good, wasn't she? although the gulping and 'oh really?' is always annoying.
agree about patsy's mh situ, she cried her way through wdytya as well, she barely seems to exist as a person...

Loved Matt Baker last night, was expecting him to be good, nut thought he looked very polished, finished well with his hands and so on. horrendous costume though - bet he wasglad they were running tight on time as Len didn't have time to slag off all 'that messing about at the beginning' whicdh they seem to love on DWTS but hate on SCD!

Can't wait for tonight's car crash, not sure who I think will be more cringeworthy Anton and Anne, or Gavin Henson.

Looking forward to it tonight, esp Gavin

But saying that, haven't some other sports people got quite far in this?

Austin Healy, Matt Dawson, Colin Jackson, Mark Ramprakash and Darren Gough have all done really well, I just think Gavin is going to be more in the vein of Peter Schmiechel, Kenny Logan or Joe Calzaghe!

Ooh I've just checked I'm recording this to watch when the dcs are in bed (back to back with last night's-yay!) but what is with Tess Daly's eye? Will be back when I've watched it all :)

Gavin OK but not the best.

Anne W truely awful but good on her for trying.

What in the name of all that's holy is that Kara woman wearing?

What is with the music tonight - just sounds terrible!!!

I suppose it is what you wear when you are a lingerie model ....

Agree about the music. The rendition of Katy Perry for Tina O'Brien was truly awful, I thought that was half her problem.

Has Tess Daly always had one eye bigger than the other?

Tess' eye looked a bit odd didn't it! I thought it was just me thinking that.
I really wish she and Bruce would stop that horrid forced "keeeeeeep dancin'" Tess looks so uncomfortable!

There were a lot of crap gimmicks this weekend - do you think there's been a conscious move to gimmick it up like DWTS? I heard a rumour that they're allowed more lifts as well.

While I agree that Anne did as well as could be expected, I think I'd be pissed off if I were Paul Daniels, who scored less for a significantly better (though still crap) routine - and given his personality I think we'll be hearing him saying as much in all the papers.

Tess did look uncomfortable but I actually really liked her dress for once! My daughter has one eye a little more closed than the other, like Tess's tonight but less obvious!

I don't know many people in this line up but thought that the last girl's costume was vile and didn't like the routine at all even though she is obviously a talented dancer.

Think all the music was pretty bad tonight, esp the Katy Perry number

So excited to have found this thread! My MIL is the only other Strictly fan I know and we normally have a phone catch up after the show but she's on hols

So from the first dances this week I like Kara, Matt, Pamela and amazingly Gavin and Peter were better than I'd expected. Am not enjoying Paul, Tina, Ann (of course) and Michelle Williams is one of the most annoying Yanks I've ever seen!!!

Kara and her partner are awesome together, agree that Ann could have been better matched for height!!

I've also applied for tickets for the live shows (pretty much every one to give me a chance of going once) and would soooo love to go to the Blackpool show. Am loving it already, welcome back SCD!

Pleasantly surprised by Gav - I didn't think he'd be able to relax enough, but he looked far more comfortable tonight than he did yesterday or on the launch show. It's up to him to prove Welsh lads can dance after the atrocity that was Joe Calzaghe last year!

Surely Gethin Jones proved that point a couple of years ago! He was better than I was expecting though, to be honest, there was no-one as bad as Gary Rhodes for example!

I didn't much care for Robin in the first introductory show but I've warmed to him now after he was so supportive to Patsy.

Definitely agree that some of the music is a bit off.
Sometimes it doesn't translate well (the Katie Perry song). I can imagine the rehearsals/practice with the original track actually improving the routine.

Just finished watching last night's show

General thoughts:

Gavin; better than expected. Could do very well in the ballroom but will reserve judgement till after the Latin!

Ann: I've seen far worse first dances, but totally agree that she needs a shorter partner!
The problem with ballroom is that the taller of the two partners cannot stoop so the shorter partner must work harder to match steps.

Kara: not loving the outfit or makeup! I thought her balance looked off a lot of the time, but she had good timimg and lovely straight legs which you need for cha cha and rumba.

Jimi: not bad, needs to sort his arms out.

Peter: very stiff but tried hard and could do ok in the ballroom dances.

Michelle: very hesitent and didn't finsih her lines at all. Bit disappointing, but perhaps we were expecting too much!

Tina: thought the routine was pretty boring! She has some talent but needs to not overdo the "cute" factor.

Not a bad bunch overall, there seems to be a consistent standard in the middle and at least 3 or 4 that could turn out to be very good.

Roll on It Takes Two and Claudia!

sailorsgal I'm in Suffolk, so not a great deal going on here. Cambridge has a bit of a salsa scene, but it is a bit pompous - lots of people who think they are amazing and want to show off as much as possible! I'd rather just be able to dance and have a good time!

Salsa next week - it is unfortunate that they've put it in so early on as the better routines in the past have been later in the series when they have more confidence, but guess we'll have to see what they come up with!