Strictly 2021!

[covetingthepreciousthings]

Couldn't see a thread yet.. maybe it's too early.. but needed to talk to people about Strictly with the news today that Zoe Ball and Ian Waite are leaving ITT!

Will Rylan take over full time? Who will become the resident dance expert?

Also, has anyone else seen the clips of AJ and Curtis on Hollyoaks? I do wonder if he regrets quitting Strictly.. I'm
not sure acting is his forte.

Glad you liked it polkadots Rachel Shenton is stunning, she'd be a fabulous signing. She wrote The Silent Child and made it with her now husband. Funding in all areas of SEN in education is the one thing the government bloody well know they ought to be doing something about but seem to have no conscience over whatsoever.

Stick him with Aljaz and make them do lots of E.M. Forster-ish ballroom dances, where they get off a punt and feed each other strawberries, knowing that their love can never be. Lots of yearning and cream-coloured trousers.
He could recycle his Wuthering smooth breeches and boots

I don’t need journeys, nanageddons, stories de la struggles or owt else. Wee bit of background then keep dancing.
It ain’t strictly come sob.

I mean, Robert Webb could be said to be a ringer, with this previous experience…

@GingerAndTheBiscuits - I still can't hear that song without giggling.

In the absence of Chris Rubery doing a written pre-season ranking (Miss you Monkseal) here's Stuart Heritage's.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/aug/14/strictly-come-dancing-2021-the-contestants-ranked
I have tried but struggled to do pairings, let alone predictions but I have been procrastinating enough to do twitter followings
Tom 1.2m
Dan 722.8k
Rob 521.4k
Adam MBE 126.3k
Ugo 114.7k
Katie 104.6k
Tilly's YouTube 43.4k (Gordon 18m)
Nina OBE 42.8k
Sara 29.3k
AJ 29.2k and already winning Mumwarz
Judi 19.7k
Rose 4.8k
Rhys 717 but a great start on Familywarz

Tilly old twitter 8.1k
John's twitter no longer exists, which automatically gets him bonus points from me
Greg doesn't do twitter by the looks of things

I am hoping that followings mean nothing or it could be Rhys, Judi and AJ in trouble first, which will lead to the usual Strictly is racist diatribe.
My money's on Rose and Rob for getting to the later stages though.
And I will throw Rhys a vote if he gets his cape, bless.
First boot? Can't call it this year. Will wait to see how they dance and who they are paired with of course. I have been known to vote, however, like I choose a car - so costume and music as opposed to performance

I like Mitchell and Webb, but I have qualms about Robert’s temperament. If he doesn’t have the right partner it could all go wrong. I think he’d be great with Oti but I assume they won’t give her another comedian. Karen maybe, all her partners seem to love her.

I think I read somewhere that Bake-off John has a bit of previous dance experience as well which makes sense - the BBC wouldn’t want to cast someone with two left feet and a relatively low profile in their first male-male pair and get him first-booted.

I think Greg will have a very Strictly-friendly demeanour and could go far.

I’d be more inclined to vote for Ugo if he lost the beard, but I am very shallow. According to Digital Spy he showed all the natural dancing ability of a Smeg fridge on his introduction but maybe he was nervous.

CBBC bloke is apparently a bit of a ringer but that didn’t do Karim much good when it came to votes.

I agree that there isn’t an obvious first boot which is nice.

Current pros following (I really do not want to clean my kitchen!)
Aljaz 215.4k
Oti 163.9k
Karen 161.2k
Dianne 161.3k (I am taking her off the bench as I speak! )
Gio 142.2k
Gorka 117.6k
Neil 86.3k
Katya 79.2k
Johannes 67.9k
Amy 50.9k
Luba 20.1k
Graziano 19k
Kai 12k
Nadiya 8.2k
Nancy 2.2k

Not sure Jowita, Cameron or Nikita are doing twitter yet

evil Oh God, I watched it and commented on here. Ugo was terrible. Mo had him, Laura, Crouchy and David Walliams up all doing a bit of Dad dancing in sync. Mo had moves, Laura looked slinky and should have gone much further on Strictly (but ice cold rapport with Gio iirc) Crouchy made me smile, David was as he always is but Ugo was so uncomfortable I thought, wow, he needs to loosen up before launch. I put it down to nerves but man needs a drink.

I had Rob with Amy but would prefer him with Dianne I think.
Nadiya needs someone outgoing or with a higher following like Adam.
I'd give Ugo to Karen at this point but in fairness, she deserves a ringer. She's been making silk purses out of sow's ears the last couple of years.

I could see Robert Webb with Karen - she’s quite serious and focused, I don’t think he’d get along with someone more ditzy

Aljaz 2013 this will be his ninth series (LSMP, one win from two finals)
Oti 2015 (six series, two wins from three finals)
Karen 2012 this will be her tenth series (LSFP, has made finals twice)
Dianne 2017 (four series, one final)
Gio 2015 (six series, three finals)
Gorka 2016 (four series, two finals)
Neil 2016 (one series)
Katya 2016 (five series, one win)
Johannes 2018 (two series)
Amy 2017 (four series, one final)
Luba 2018 (two series)
Graziano 2018 (one series)
Kai 2021 (new*)
Nadiya 2017 (3 series)
Nancy 2019 (troupe)

*stats do not cover specials or other countries (e.g. Kai was a finalist twice on DWTS Ireland, Johannes was a finalist twice on DWTS south Africa)

@AuntLydiasNewHairdo

Yes, that was unnecessarily mean about Nina.

Hmm “unnecessarily mean”...

What would be the necessary level of mean about such a crashing bore and, let’s say, X list celebrity?
The casting gets poorer each year but the men are definitely stronger this time around.

I couldn’t quote the post above but yes please to just proper ballroom dancing and a return to sane marking. Keep flying the flag, Craig.

With Anton on the panel I wouldn’t count on sane marking.

What would be the necessary level of mean...

How about not making spiteful comments at all?

scraping the barrel, terrible choice, crashing bore, x-list, and all the women are hopeless, boring and tick-box

Blimey. All of them?
And what's Nina done to you?

Representation and diversity are important, especially to the kids I work with. It makes a difference.
But that aside, before the inevitable BBC tokenism accusations ensue, Nina Wadia has an OBE. Her 14 year old was diagnosed with diabetes four year ago and she has supported the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation ever since. That's admirable in its own right.
But then take into account she has worked solidly in tv and film for thirty years including the eleventh hour. That doesn't make her a terrible signing.
Her ''Ugh fine'' 1 minute skits on her twitter feed amused me enough to think she'll be the opposite of boring. She seems like lots of fun.

The other one I thought would be on this year is Rev Kate Botley... She's spent the last year telling everyone on her radio show how much she's been dancing in the background...

Great new word Sheldon (was it you termed it?) nanageddons

I Luuurrrve Nadia as you say Sequins She has a sense of humour. (some of the posters on here need to get one)

I think it'll have to be Greg for me to cheer on. Shame it's not Greg James but he'll have to do for now.

I am just amazed they couldn't get any bigger names, because I thought SCD was taken more seriously that DOI etc

DH (who works for independent TV stations) has just said (because I asked him) that they DO pay their celebs more because of course they are commercial.

That is probably your answer Sparkling Some of the big stars, won't sign up for Strictly because; they don't need the extra publicity, worry about their marital status and or don't want the stress involved being coached by professionals like Katya.

I agree, why would bigger names do it, especially if they’re having to put in any kind of covid restrictions. The beauty of strictly for me is that even if I’ve never heard of someone (which is most years) I can still hugely enjoy their development and progress.

ppeat

I cannot sadly take the glory for Nanageddon - that belongs to the genius that was the Mighty Boosh.

I borrowed it - sorry gents. Too good to not use again

🧶 📖 🦍

Love, Mrs Tony Harrison 🐙

True Ginger it's amazing how quickly I've forgotten about Covid! In fact watching them improve is fabulous (Bill Bailey comes to mind last year) with a good coach like Oti he literally bloomed!

Sheldon

I thought bigger names might do it because they are comfortable financially, have time on their hands and fancy a challenge and SCD is a good show to do.
Let's not forget they can drop out at any time especially if they don't care about the fee. Remember Will Young?

The reasons why you’d do SCD, which is a large commitment of time and effort over a period of two months or more, are
A) moderate amounts of money
B) profile raising/change of image which is arguably a subset of A but potentially much larger amounts of cash at stake
C) you fancy whirling round with Aljaz in a lovely frock
D) there’s a pandemic on and all your other work has been cancelled (2020 series only)
E) your children are huge fans (more common as a reason for doing Taskmaster or Doctor Who)

C has traditionally been a good motivation for older women who don’t actually need the money or profile raising but I think the older generation are still quite wary about Covid, or the BBC are wary on their behalf.

It is the youngest cast ever and I think that’s because they see the small but real risk of having The Producer Who Murdered Dennis Waterman on their CV forever.

I would do it for nowt.

For the frock. For the experience. For the hair and make up.

And for the weight loss.