SCD 2019: Who let the 10s out?

[GrouchyKiwi]

Ringers and dad dancers ahoy.

oh and Mike is terrible and should be in the DO, he won;t be as he works for the BBC

I think that Mike should go, much as I like his personality. The dance was technically very poor.

In other news I think Tess has really done a decent job this week of presenting. Not one "bless your little face" comment.

Oh. I commented how dreadful and cringey she was tonight (well, not just tonight!!) Like the contestants can't see people are standing up, or can't hear them cheering.
....but i didn't notice as much of the repeating a single word/phrase of what each judge says, as if she's giving it extra emphasis and again acting as if the dancers can't hear for themselves until she helpfully repeats one phrase or comment
So thats a slight improvement.

Thought the music and costumes tonight were shit. What was Alex wearing? Why the jacket on Kelvin and Karin? WTF with Karin and Amy's shoes?!

Loved Saffron purely because it was old school strictly with great music and the girl wearing a dress (albeit not the nicest as looked like tinfoil!).

Bring back decent music that matches the songs and beautiful dresses!

Agree Tess was much better this week. I also loved Alfonso - wish he was Bruno's permanent replacement.

I thought Alfonso is becoming a bit of a joke tbh. I mean I quite fancy him so it's hard for me to be objective but it can't have escaped notice that the past two years he's turned up for a fat fee, talked absolute bollocks, given one vote higher than Shirley with every contestant, and leaned back, full of self satisfaction.

I mean, it's just rubbish isn't it. And the whole Mike "let me lick your boots about the routine you did a hundred years ago Alfonso" was really embarrassing.

He's an easy replacement for Bruno - he's undemanding and won't rock any boats. But I almost prefer Bruno - shock!!!

Where can you find the spoilers? (I won't give anything away if I do find out!)

Just Google Strictly Spoiler

There is a spoiler thread on Digital Spy that is very easy to find.

I felt sorry for Mike tbh. He was never going to do well with that song/theme and to do it with a person who got 40 for it just makes it seem a really unkind choice.

It couldn't even be proper samba because it had to be all about Alfonso.

What has happened to the music on Strictly? The producers make awful choices week after week, totally unsuitable to the nature of the dance being performed.
I long for a tango to proper tango music...

Also, and I’m sorry to say this, the singing has really gone downhill.

Couple that with the bloody awful clapping along from the hyper audience, and an element of excellence about the show has totally disappeared.

I could also do without the X Factor style sob stories. I have great admiration for Will and what he has overcome, but if that was me, I wouldn’t want my health story used in this way.

Tess looks like she is crushing the hands of the poor celebs. Mine would be firmly behind my back. There is no need for her to do this, it is totally infantilising, as if Tess is there to protect them from the big bad judges!

Craig is far and away the best judge. He should have been given the Head Judge slot when Len left. Shirley is insufficiently objective, and does seem to have her favourites. I also cannot stand her sexist responses to some of the male celebs. So unprofessional.

I want Mike to go, his dance was a joke and I just don’t want to watch him, plus that means annoying Katya will be gone as well.

I totally agree about the music. I much prefer a song or piece of music with less vocals but more of a true waltz/tango/what ever. Quite often it distracts from the dance.
The same with the costumes. You can never beat coat tails for ballroom and I often feel the dresses are too long and distracting.
I also think the women s shoes are too high in a lot of cases.

Does anyone else think Mike bares a resemblance to the terminator in Terminator 2 ? He has the same ears.

I find the judging panel interesting this year. Craig continues to be the only one to mark honestly and provide genuine technical feedback. I have always enjoyed Bruno because of the way he parodies himself - yet last year when all the tech went tits-up during the swingajiveahopathon or whatever it was, DH and I were fascinated to notice that it was actually Bruno who took control of the judges, sorting everyone and their bits of paper out, while Tess and Claudia flapped around making things worse. He is a lot more switched on than the character he plays on that panel.

However, Motsi - who I had such high hopes of - is actually a bit shit. Far too much emotion, far too incoherent, far too little useful critique of the dance. And Shirley veers embarrassingly between dribbling over the men she fancies when she's feeling lustful and providing waspishly nasty feedback when she's not.

Like the contestants can't see people are standing up, or can't hear them cheering.

I don't think those comments are for the contestants. It's far harder for the viewers to see and hear those things due to the audience being unlit and the sound being geared towards the microphones the celebs.

I think the judges all have their roles to play and that is exactly what they are doing. I suspect their real life personas are very different.

Mike is terrible and should be in the DO, he won't be as he works for the BBC

Like Dev does?

Really hope Mike goes. I know he scored higher than David but David has a certain charm about him whereas I find Mike irritating.

I agree. Despite his lack of ability, David seems to have a genuine joy about it which Mike lacks. Perhaps it's helped by having proper choreography rather than jokes.

I'm fascinated by Bruno. There was a time we were all convinced he was coked up to the eyeballs. Maybe he was, but I don't think he is now.

There interview with him (was it on This Morning? Can't recall) where he said that that because of all the travelling every week and because he has to have his energy at 100% for the shows, he consciously powers down the rest of the time and becomes a bit of a hermit as he can't afford to be tired for the shows. So if you met him he might seem quite different.

Craig has spoken about him at speaking events. The only thing I remember is that he said Bruno is very very generous and would give you the shirt off his back. Which is nice.

He's good at explaining shaping as he literally acts it out. I tend to understand what Bruno is saying and I generally agree. He finds good descriptions, like when he said somebody this year had a sort of "hiccuping" movement. I couldn't put my finger on what was bothering me about the movement but as soon as Bruno said that, I thought yes, that was exactly it.

Emma and Alijaz were my fave tonight, that was wonderful. Reminded me of the waltz he did with Abbey Clancy.

WTAF was going in with Kelvin's outfit tonight?!?! That jacket was bloody awful. Made it hard to actually see him dance. Other than that, he's still my fave out of the all the celebs.

Mike needs to go.

TheOnlyLivingBoyIn NewCross you summed Shirley up perfectly.

Bruno was on Would I Lie To You? once. He was good actually, I don’t know why he hasn’t been back on.

Checking in. . .

I enjoyed Alex and Neil's Charleston and really want her to do well but watched it it with a heavy heart as she just wasn't getting her legs kicked up to anything like the extent that Neil was (45 degrees to his 90). It was REALLY noticeable. Then they got those massively high scores!

Are the judges actually watching, them? Or was it cleverly done while they were sideways on to the judges so that they didn't see?

SoupDragon i didn't know that. tbf I had no idea who Dev was.
Mike gets a lot of coverage on the bbc morning thing.

He's a Radio 1 DJ.

I don't think working for the BBC is a bonus in itself, it all depends on how many people know and like you (as well as the dancing).

In our house we get one vote each: Karim (DD), Kelvin (DH) and Michelle (me)...a little worried for her this week!

Has Saffron had dance training? I enjoyed the old school "proper" dance a lot, but she definitely looks like she has danced before.