SCD 14 - in a JOEVERMARKED ballroom, Oti we loved your Swansong

[PawneeParksDept]

Took the liberty of starting a new thread. Hope the title suits!

Had people over last night & it was on in the background but I was concentrating as much as usual. We are all SCD fans so I wasn’t being rude

First time ever though I’m very tempted to look at a spoiler but resisting so far

Did notice that Ashley didn’t like being criticised by Shirley at all

Missed the show last night so catching up now.

Loved Faye’s Charleston but Giovanni looked so creepy! Heidi Stephens in the guardian live blog said “his lederhosen are so tight you can definitely tell he’s a real boy” 😂

Ashley will definitely be in the DO but will kick out whoever she’s up against.

Joe’s salsa was fun but strange. Has he lifted Diane yet? How will he get further if he can’t do the lifts?

Joe’s salsa was fun but strange. Has he lifted Diane yet? How will he get further if he can’t do the lifts?

He's already done Charleston and AS, so the only dances left with 'allowed' [quote marks applied because apparently anything is allowed in any dance now, and they're all essentially showdances] lifts is the AT, which they might well chose to skip (seeing as they can all skip two dances this year due to the introduction of the couples choice).

Then there's the finale showdance, of course, which is often more lift than dance and all the worse for it (BACOFOIL!), but by that stage it's all on the public vote anyway and Joe's likely not lacking in votes.

I miss the days when it wasn't just lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift. Remember when Kelly Brook got hauled over the coals for an extra lift in her AS? Stacey had more lifts than dancing in hers last night

Did anyone see this interview with Kevin on Digital Spy?

In it, he says he's glad Stacey is partnered with Aljaz for the tour because he thinks Aljaz will be good humoured and encouraging rather than a disciplinarian, but it was this bit that I found interesting:

"I would really hate it if Stacey was going to someone who was going to scream and shout at her and all that, I'd be really uncomfortable with that actually, but no, I don't think Aljaz is like that, so she's in good hands."

Is he implying that some of the male pro dancers do teach by screaming and shouting? I can't really imagine it of any of them now Brendan's gone.

Is he implying that some of the male pro dancers do teach by screaming and shouting?

It does sound like that, doesn't it?

Interesting

Just catching up. Lauren and AJ were my favourites last night, yes that shocked me too! Thought Joe was dreadful, really want it to be a joe and Ashley dance off so he goes out. BUT please can Lauren have all ballroom dances from now on?? I know that’s not going to happen but it’s so much easier to watch

Joe was bloody awful it was so weird!

I missed it last night but would have voted Charles and Faye

Even didn't hate Lauren last night

Well my summing up is that I LOVED the opening number, great they danced a proper dance, not all that effing airy fairy crappy stuff that they've been doing for too many weeks now.

On the whole the rest looked good, shame that some of the extremely good traditional music was mangled by the orchestra/singers. The puppets, SOM dance was too OTT They both looked manic!! They were OM. Yes Pashley were OTT as well, maybe the ringahs are getting worried!!!!!

LOVED LOVED Charle's dance !!!!!! IMO West Side Story is the BEST musical everrrrr and they did it justice. WHY was he undermarked?????? I liked Stacey's, I don't like the miserable Les Mis. either.

Lauren's was ok, better than her Latin, but she should've gone already as should Joe; pretty costume shame about his 'spade like' hands and he was definitely OM.

If Ashley is in the bottom two again (likely as she isnt popular) all that happens is that whoever dances against her will go, because she is the pro. It's very frustrating.

I liked Faye and Giovanni's Charleston, it was really complicated and she made it look effortless. Which was much better than Ashley's, which was complicated and really looked like she had to work at it. I thought Faye made an error right at the start, but when I watched it back it looked more like Giovanni's error. I'm not sure it was a 40 dance though, but I'm not appalled that it got a 40 either. Giovanni looked like he belonged in a horror film, it was very unnerving. Please don't ever let him be platinum blond again.

Lauren's dance was sweet and she and AJ both looked like they enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching it, especially Johannes, I really hope that he gets a partner next year so I get to see more (of his dancing).

Charle's rumba wasn't as bad as I feared. It wasn't the best male celeb rumba ever though Craig, has Danny Mac been erased from Strictly history or something? I would have liked to have watched the rumba that the judges watched, because they clearly didn't see the good but bland one that I saw.

I thought Ashley's quickstep wasn't light and effortless enough. A lot of her dances have too much welly, she's powerful and muscle-y and that shows as too much effort.

I quite liked Stacey's dance, more the second time that I watched it. I think Kevin's choreography is much better this year, much darker. He used to be relentlessly upbeat and cutesy. I don't know whether it's having a more cynical partner or the marriage breakdown, but I like it.

What was interesting about Joe's dance wasn't the dance itself but that it contained more testing of the waters of same sex partner dancing. A few years ago I really thought that it would be a bad thing because it would look odd, but the more that I see of it the more I like it. Perhaps a male celeb for Johannes next year? The best part of it wasn't even in the dance, it was at the end when Joe dismounted from the final lift. He fell backwards completely trusting Johannes to catch him, and Johannes did. It was more romantic than the entirety of Charles' rumba.

Charles and Ashley in the dance off IMO. There are two sets of equal marks which make it impossible for the lowest public vote not to be in the dance off.

Ref. the way the pros. teach the celebs. I remember Anita Rani saying that she was being "slave driven" by Gleb. sometimes the truth comes out of the basically dishonest programme that is SCD

Bawled my eyes out at the Les Mis dance (must be the wine).

Even tho I think Faye is unfairly advantaged I do like that she goes off piste a bit. Ashley feels in secure 'I'm in a gorgeous outfit dancing amazingly' territory all the time and it gets dull.

TBH tho this has to be the most boringly predictable SCD ever with Faye and Ashley topping the board every week.
Can't get into it as much as previous years as a consequence.

I know others find Stacey's accent grates but I don't mind the 'whatevs' and 'aw Shirl'. Quite like her rapport with Claudia too.

Is anyone else fed up of the tabloids constant stream of headlines claiming every one hates/is sleeping with/being abused by etc their dance partner? It's like being in a School playground.

dame I don't read the tabloids but i think it's important if the celebs are being treated badly to LEARN a dance , that's ridiculous and shouldn't happen. I speak as a teacher of little ones and adult \dance keep fit classes, there was never any abuse involved

I don't understand why everybody talks about a male/male couple if we have a same-sex couple. I've seen both m/m and f/f and f/f are much better to watch!

F/f is really established (because there are never enough boys/men to go around). Their Latin is particularly good to watch — lots of intricate side-by-side and mirror work, very different to m/f couples. Men easily find female partners, so a m/m 'style' hasn't developed in the same way.

Please could somebody, who knows about dancing more than I do, watch Ashley in her dance again

To me she seemed to get her feet sort of tangled up at the beginning or on the wrong foot or something or is she supposed to be dancing differently stepwise to pasha (as she was going towards the desk, I think it was)?

That "best male rumba ever" or whatever Craig said - never mind the erasing of Danny Mac, Jay McGuiness got 39 for his rumba, so Craig must have given him a 9 for it. But Charles - who you gave an 8 to - was still better, was he, Craig? 🤔

They absolutely hated the fact that Jay won that series.

Jay's rumba

Regarding shouty male pros. I think Brendan, James Jordan and Artem could be a bit shouty with their celebs, but I can't see any of the current ones being like that.

I think Joe could easily have a male partner and he be in the female part iyswim

If he can't lift his female partner then he isn't taking the male part fully then is he?

My BIL has the same body type as Joe but he works in antique trade so is amazingly strong for his shape and size cos he spends all day lifting/moving furniture etc in and out of houses and vans. So he could lift anybody male or female I reckon.

Having a shouty dance teacher would be awful cos you would just be nervous on Saturday anyway, but to know if you go wrong they will shout at you too

It would make you even more nervous, wouldn't it?

'It wasn't the best male celeb rumba ever though Craig, has Danny Mac been erased from Strictly history or something?'

I know!!! I do not get the Charles hysteria at all. He has done some good dances, his Halloween jive was very impressive, but his Samba was way too heavy with almost no bounce. His rumba was fine and better than expected but come on! No idea why the judges are losing their minds over him

I'm watching on catch up and also don't understand Craig saying Charles was the best male rumba on Strictly then only giving him an 8? Don't get it!

Wasn’t Joe lifting Dianne in the Lindy hop? I think they were just trying to do something a bit different and fitting with the theme.