I mentioned earlier on in the thread that I was going to Strictly last night. We had a brilliant time! I could go on and on (and happy to answer specific questions) but will try to keep it short.
We had great seats, in the section to the right of Craig and alongside the stairs leading up to Claudia's 'nest'. But the best seats are given to the friends and family of the celebrities so didn't have a really clear view of the dance floor. But there's so much going on, it's amazing. In between each dance, when the VTs are showing on TV, the production staff are running around. During the dances the camera men are non-stop - they must be shattered by the end.
OK, Eamon Holmes when he arrived was treated like royalty and had the best seat in the house. However very rudely he couldn't be bothered to clap and just sat there looking bored; he even left his chair for a bit and when he was there he kept looking at his watch. Really annoying man. As you can imagine the audience is constantly encouraged to clap, cheer, boo etc, and he was the only one not joining in.
Tess I was very impressed by having previously thought she was wooden. OK she and Claudia are reading from auto-cue and she had a production person with her all the time, but still, she is on the go all the time, moving around and it's really thanks to her it all hangs together. No idea how they coped in the last couple of series with Brucie!!
Tess and Claudia came on and did a bit of a warm up and practice before the show. Claudia was pretending to be drunk (it seemed to me) and complaining how uncomfortable her Spanx were!! I think she's funny enough without putting on this silly act.
The costumes were absolutely gorgeous. Having watched the Vicky Gill sections on IT2 I've always thought they were more style over substance but how wrong I was. Stand out dresses were Charlotte's and Alexandra Burke's but I thought they were all fab and looked so much nicer in real life. Tess's dress also gorgeous.
Gorka and Giovanni are incredibly good looking in real life, if that is even possible. Giovanni's face is just beautiful. Kevin was really focused on the audience (as was Karen) perhaps knowing that they are the people who vote for him. AJ, what can I say!!? He's tiny (about 5 3 I'd say) and literally looks about 12!!! Pasha, what a heartthrob, so solicitous towards Chizzy (who had to be supported by a production person when going up and down the stairs other than when on camera).
Where we were we had a great view of the judges. When we arrived we saw each of their seats had a cushion on it - Bruno's the biggest as he's quite short. I was impressed that the judges' comments are un-scripted, though they had their hand written notes of observations from when they watched in the dress rehearsal. SO I though Shirley did a great job. Incidentally, when she corrected Darcy, she continued to do so after the votes were cast - I could see her demonstrating but Darcy not amused!!!
A lot of people think Bruno must be on drugs or something but, in between the judging segments, he was very calm and quiet, as was Craig. Darcy harasses Craig a lot (not sure what he thinks of that) and seems quite needy: when the VTs are playing, she and Shirley had a production person giving them comments (I could see them telling Shirley to look up etc) and touching up the make up. Darcy also wanted her straps adjusting etc. I was also surprised to see her giving dance advice to Katya before the show when they pre-recorded a performance by a singer for next week.
Some of the celebrities (mainly the women) were very nervous. Simon Rimmer seemed to be having a great time. Debbie looks like a friendly person. Everyone seemed to like Katya. Aston I thought was a bit full of himself.
What else can I say? It was fab. Everyone incredibly professional and the whole thing very slick. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by that but it really was interesting to be part of it. If people get the chance, definitely go!