Complaints about the Strictly line up

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

I've read a lot of complaints (none on here, but that doesn't mean there aren't any) about the line up of Strictly contestants being terrible. Grumbling about them all being Z listers, not knowing any of them, same sex couples, dancing is not about sexuality (as in pairing up gay people with someone of the same sex) and making a laughing stock of Ellie Simmonds.

Personally I would like to see two same sex couples, both of the dancers and celebs being straight. Nobody would then complain about it being "woke" and about sexual preferences (which I don't think it should be. It wasn't for Susan Calman, Will Young, Julien Macdonald, Julian Clary)

What do Mumsnetters think about who should be in the line up? If people moan about Z listers (I do think there's a point about this on Dancing on Ice and Love Islanders) who should be on instead? At what level do 'celebs' become acceptable as celebrities ?

I'm not complaining myself! I'm writing what I've read!

👆👆Exactly this 👆👆

I like the pairings this year. I do think they need to think more about the choreography for Ellie and Nikita, they train for so many hours a week he needs to think more about his posture, I think they will find a way to adapt to each other over the weeks and look forward to seeing how they progress.

There does seem to be too many contestants this year though, how many weeks is it running for!

I really don't see why the sex or sexual orientation of any of the pairs is relevant to anything. A dance is a performance and the pair need to sell the story, just like any actor playing a role.

I haven't head of most of the competitors - I don't think you need to be very famous to participate these days.

I saw in the radiotimes that Jade wanted to be with a woman so she could do the lifts. I've read on FB people being extremely supportive of Ellie describing her as a 'fire cracker' etc - but some were worried about Nikita's back from having to bend down. Some thought it would have better to have a professional dancer with Dwarfism brought it to pair with her for the series.
I think people want to see people they know doing it. If they don't know then they consider them z listers - although to someone else who does know then they may not be. Personally I'm quite happy to get to know them over the series, I don't watch any soaps or listen to the radio much so I just expect not to know half the people. I often know the athletes more than anyone else.

I can't watch it as I can't stand Tess Daly. Even if I could tolerate her, I'd have to turn off this year as it is bound to be the Ritchie show (another z lister I can't stand!)

My mum can’t stand her either so records it and fast forwards through her bits.

I grit my teeth when Tess appears, I'll probably be grinding them down watching Richie

Watching it on iPlayer later

I don’t care that they’re Z listers. At this point, the strictly professionals are the celebs for me 😂 I watch every year and have my favourites

I was surprised how Nikita danced — if you watch teacher/student or adult/child classes where there can be huge height differences (although Ellie will have more powerful movement so it isn't exactly comparable) I've never seen anybody bend like that to dance.

I love the line up. I think Ellie is an absolute star with the heart of a lion and I'm dying to see how she owns this because I know she will. As to the same sex couples, I watch the show for the dancing and there's no reason why a same sex couple can't dance as well as a mixed sex one, possibly even better or differently. I don't care about the sexuality of the contestants because it's of no relevance to me personally - I'm here to enjoy the show, not get intimate with the contestants.

Everyone has a fundamental right to happiness and you can't be truly happy if society prevents you from openly being your true self. If shows like this can do their bit to push bigotry and illogical hate into the history books then I applaud them.

I know a lot of the celebrities this year and some of them have a lot of potential.

I'm not worried about same sex pairings, or whether they're straight/gay/bi/whatever, as long as they dance well together.

I'm interested to see how the Nikita/Ellie pairing plays out. Ellie was really good this first week, but I think the dance was specially chosen so there was not too much close pairing. Part of what they're judged on is their posture and stance, and with the best will in the world, Nikita can't dance with a straight back with Ellie in the ballroom pieces, so I'm keen to see how they make dances such as the waltz work. I'm full of admiration for Ellie for giving it a go though and hope she does well.

I was pleasantly surprised at Hamza Yassin. He was so light on his feet and an excellent dancer. Will Mellor was good too and keen to see him do a ballroom piece.

I know more of the celebrities this year than most years - I'm 40, so I expect the older and younger fans won't know as many. I am very excited about this year, I love the partnerships.

I don't know about the early years, but they've been scraping the barrel for "celebrities" for a long time. I really enjoy watching the same sex couples.

We liked Ellie's dance, we said at home that she looked really sassy!

There are always people in the lineup that we don't know, Hamza is one of them but he is so light on his feet he's going to be fun to watch. For us, the 'who' is part of the fun and we get to know them a bit better each week anyway.

I'm in my late fifties and my mum has competed in same-sex ballroom dancing before I was born - it really isn't anything new in the dance world, I appreciate that some people find it harder to judge the couples against each other but I wonder if that is part of the reason for the show to do them? When Strictly started, it had two dance styles each week (one latin, one ballroom) and all the couples did one of those so half the group may have a waltz and the other half had a cha-cha-cha. It did make the bad dancers stand out more!

I thought one of the reasons why Nikita was bending because its their first dance and to try and make it slightly more comforting for ellie and so he could get instructions out clearer.

But I know nothing about dancing,

I don't get the pairing a gay person with the same sex? It's a dancing show not a dating show 🤷‍♀️. I don't think you can judge a same sex couple on a level playing field with a mixed sex couple, it ends up being a totally different dynamic in terms of lifts and then there's the whole the man leads the lady, how do they know who is leading to judge and when they switch who leading? Same sex couples just end up doing a lot of dancing size by side as they can't lift one another properly, it doesn't look as athletically pleasing to watch, I like watching the traditional dances done as they are meant to look, not 2 men doing some bizarre take on it. Gay people have taken part in the past paired with the opposite sex, worked just fine. What next celebs get to pick their partner because they fancy them? I really don't get the pairing with Karen (i know she isnt gay and chose a woman because shes too big to lift), it just makes the big lady look like a flat footed elephant at the side of slight Karen, if she'd been paired with a man it would have worked far better as it wouldn't be so obvious that she really can't move like the pro and her size would look a little more in proportion if paired with a tall male dancer. Big lady's have taken part in the past and have managed to get by without lifts or even lift the man, that works better.

We usually know about half the celebs at the start; this year it's more like two thirds, so quite a good year. Love Hamza on CBeebies, and he was a lovely dancer. I don't have strong feelings about the same-sex couples. I did find it annoying that Jayde kept calling Karen 'baby' though. My biggest concern this year is Ellie Simmonds - she's an amazing dancer, but I just don't see how she and Nikita as a pair are going to be able to deliver technically. They may prove me wrong, though!

I want to gonhsck to the old days of strictly: two dances per show. Then you can really compare. Scoring seems utterly wild when you're comparing a (slow) jive with a quickstep.

I am enjoying this series so far, like lost of the pairings. Although I feel sorry for Ellie Simmonds that she is lumbered with Nikita as he comes across as a humourless tit.

Jayde looks like a contender - I saw that article about her wanting to do lifts but also she used to dance with her sister so having a same sex partner feels normal to her.

Part of me thinks Giovanni has been paired with a man by the BBC to calm down sexy time rumours. But he is always, always so kind and caring with his celeb partner that it can only be a matter of time before the rumours start up again. For the record, I don't believe he actually does have torrid affairs with all his partners but he is so Good at making them believe in themselves that I think he falls in love a little bit with them all.

I am also in the "fast forward Tess" camp. I love Claudia though.

I'm interested to see how the Nikita/Ellie pairing plays out. Ellie was really good this first week, but I think the dance was specially chosen so there was not too much close pairing. Part of what they're judged on is their posture and stance, and with the best will in the world, Nikita can't dance with a straight back with Ellie in the ballroom pieces, so I'm keen to see how they make dances such as the waltz work. I'm full of admiration for Ellie for giving it a go though and hope she does well.

@WhenDovesFly I agree. I really like Ellie and it's great to have the representation and I can tell she's going to give it her all, but I can't see how she can be judged fairly against other couples (or for the other couples to be judged fairly against them) when it's impossible for Ellie to be in the hold and frame that is required for many of the dances. Jive, Charleston etc are all quite forgiving but Foxtrot or Quick Step would be very difficult. Will be interesting to see how it's handled.

The same-sex couples? Don't bother me at all, though it felt groundbreaking when they first did it - and I LOVED Johannes and John together, they were fantastic together, but now it feels like they wouldn't be able to do a series of Strictly without putting in same-sex couples because they'd be called out for it. I don't think these things should ever be forced just to tick a box, it should be judged on the individual pairings. I don't think Giovanni and Richie work at all.

Is there anyone from casualty/holby City this year? They usually have one from there.
I probably know half the contestants. I only know Ritchie because we had radio 2 on in the car, driving to Cornwall the day he was allowed to announce it and I honestly think they mentioned it every 3 minutes for the rest of the 5 hour journey! (Of course we could have changed stations ....but pop master!🤣)
The celebs are always fairly low level for any reality type tv shows because actual A listers probably haven't got 3 or 4 months spare to do it. (A current sports star or leading film star etc)

When I say two dances I don't mean each dancer does two dancers. Jeezo, the first few shows would last for 3 days.

No, I liked when they got to do one of two dances. Then you could compare.

It may also get rid of "couples choice" which is alarmingly similar to "show dance" and street dance that now just feel like poor copies of the amazing Oti & Bill dance.

Anyway. I'm too invested. 🤣

I’ve never known half the strictly line up but after a couple of weeks watching it makes no difference at all as you get to know them. It doesn’t detract from the show at all how many of the contestants I know beforehand. I didn’t know Rose last year as I never watch Eastenders but still loved her and was thrilled she won!

As for the same sex partnerships, I’m not sure it matters if they are gay or straight. It’s just people dancing together. My 6 year old DS started ballroom and latin dance lessons this year after being obsessed with strictly last year. In a class of around 15 there are 3 boys, which I think is actually quite a high proportion! So the girls dance together all the time and swap the ‘male and female’ roles as it were. No one cares, they are all under 10 so nothing sexual comes into it at all.

For the first time in many years, I actually know 8 of the celebrities so they aren't Z listers to me. Previous years have starred young social media 'stars' I had never heard of so they weren't A-listers to me.

Nikita can't dance with a straight back with Ellie in the ballroom pieces, so I'm keen to see how they make dances such as the waltz work.

They might just not do many — there are 15 dances now, and it skews more out of hold than in. Even if you get to the final you only dance 11 I think.