Strictly '22 #18 — Who's going to lift the glitterball? We don't know, but it will happen in this thread!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Previous thread

We're moving so fast I'm setting this one up to be ready!

Watched the programme last night and thought the show dances could have been more, showy. The only one I thought that went full out was Fleur’s - that was the only exciting one of the lot. The others felt too safe and tame. I wanted the show dances to wow me, and the other three didn’t really.

Just caught up on this - well done to Hamza. I wanted him to win and although he wasn't the best dancer on the night, I think he has been the best throughout the whole series. Plus out of all 4 finalists, I think he's the only one who hasn't had any dance or stage school experience. He gave me the most joy watching too.
Helen was a close second I reckon and I wouldn't have minded if she'd won. The way Gorka reacted didn't seem very sporting though. I know he was understandably disappointed but it did look like he thought he (Helen) should have won and spat the dummy out a bit because they didn't.
Everyone else seemed so happy for Hamza - and I am!

Looking at thar clip, Gorka looked pissed off and lacklustre BEFORE they announced the winner. I'm not sure it's the result that pissed him off looking at that, maybe he was expecting it and they knew already, or it was a back of backstage disagreements of some sort.

Very interesting.

There have been far more years of Strictly finals where the dancer popular with the public has won, rather than the technically best dancer. I don't understand why there's the same surprise and shock every year or accusations of robbery.

That said, there was something a bit off about this year's final. From the non special titles, to the super short show dances, to the judges suddenly finding the 8 paddle and applying the criticism they should have applied during the preceding weeks to the somewhat subdued ending. It just felt off kilter.

I think the contest format is stale. To make the contest as much about technical dance ability as it is about popularity, they need to completely shake it all up. Apply a better judging system, with perhaps separate marks for technical merit and for entertainment value. Scores to be totted up cumulatively on a week by week basis. Eliminate only after, say, week 3, when everyone has done at least one Latin and one ballroom each - get rid of the bottom 2 and repeat this going forward, so eliminations every 2 weeks so people can redeem themselves after a bad week. Notorious dances like the rumba to be danced by all on the same week so that nobody is singled out for having a crap week because of a difficult to please dance. No Couples Choice, just stop. Finals Show Dances should have rules, so that couples are required to incorporate specific ballroom and Latin content steps into their dances, that can otherwise be anything they want. The judges choice of finals dance should be the couple's lowest scoring ballroom, where they then need to show how they've taken on the judges' critique and improved themselves. The couples' favourite dance can be their Latin of choice. Finals scores should include the cumulative weekly scores topped up with the public vote during finals.

Me too

I agree that they should have an entertainment score and a techincal score like France DALS do. It only feels flat that Hamza won because his showdance was so flat and went so wrong at the start. He was a People's Champion of sorts but was usually pretty good, albeit sometimes flat-footed, on the night - this was the first one really that went so badly across the series as a whole.
He got lucky. Some, like me, cast our six votes early. In all honesty, I would have switched votes across to Helen I think, had I waited.

I thought it was better in the early years when in each episode, couples danced one of 2 dances. It was so much easier for non experts to compare dancing ability.

When everyone does a different dance, some are bound to be able to do more of a crowd pleaser which will get more votes from the public.

I liked it the first year Argentine tango was included, when all the semi-finalists did it.

I do wonder whether Hamza's body had just given up last night. He's talked about his knees hurting all series, and his wrists were strapped up last night. That lift he did at the end of his SD was quite something, plus all the lifts in his other two dances.

It needs a shake up this has been a bit of a damp squib this year unfortunately

I think what it needs is for them to stop ramming each contestant's personal anguish down our throats. And the deafening "dramatic" soundtrack hammering home how epic this all is - I swear they'd have Don LaFontaine's voiceover if they could - is very irritating. Also, I know this is shallow but a lot of my fascination with the show in the past was appreciation for the dazzling and exquisite costumes. Not sure what happened to the budget but many of the dresses this year looked like modified leotards.

In my opinion...

They need to get rid of couple's choice next series. It's a show about Latin and ballroom dancing. The couple's choice seems an easy way to get high scores but seems out of place. A 40 for a CC is not as impressive as a 40 for a 'real' dance. Plus it ruins the point of the show dance in the final.

There should be one ballroom dance and one Latin dance a week, so half the couples do one and the other half the other. Then swap the next week. It doesn't seem fair that some couples get away with never doing say, the rhumba or the samba. Plus it would make the weekly making fairer as it seems to be easier to score higher with a Charleston or ballroom than some of the Latin dances.

Shirley shouldn't have the final say in the DO. If it's a tie, go to the public vote.

Combine movie and musicals week. I don't seem the point of having both, personally.

Afternoon all.

Didn't manage to stay in the dark but never mind!

Gorka is an arsehole. Always has been, always will be. He was foul last year, and last night he was clearly furious. That wasn't disappointment, that was sheer, transparent fury. Look at Fleur (arguably the best technical dancer not just on the night (and I speak as someone who loathes that tinfoil thing and the stomping more than life itself) celebrating someone else's victory. Look at Carlos. Then look at Pissy Gorka.

Whatever Helen may have thought, Gorka thought it was theirs. As I said, SM was weird yesterday. The usual ostriches saying "but Helen has no dance experience" (who were so all over the SCD Insta and FB accounts yesterday |I began to think they were paid bots placed there by some publicity agent with too much money to spend) I don't even live in the UK and my BP presenters were Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves but even I've seen the tap dancing stories and awards stuff in the press. (and obviously her coming second on the Christmas special!) Aljaz and Janette were apparently also telling people to vote for Helen. And has there ever been a SCD where the main character wasn't even in the show? The utterly ridiculous going on SCD for "revenge"/ "he done did her wrong" narrative doesn't even fit the timeline of events. There's an article in the Mirror last year with Helen where she says they basically lead separate lives in the same house, they see each other so infrequently and there's a direct quote where she says they "avoid spending time together" The SCD team start to look at potential contestants in January-February. He done did her wrong left in April. (Quite apart from the fact that we all know that publicists and agents are working triple hours overtime to get their clients onto something like SCD) I have no doubt the SCD team saw the main chance for a sob story there, and that's not Helen's fault, but it’s disingenuous at best, and downright deceitful at worst to continue to peddle the myth that somewhere here is a pathetic little wronged woman clawing her dignity back. Her dignity lies, as it always did, in trekking across the tundra and walking on tightropes and not bringing her private life into the competition. She never needed to. We all did it for her.

We all know it's no longer about who is best on Final night, and we all know it's no longer a dancing competition. If it were about who has made the most progress, fucking Tony Adams would be in the final so the sour grapes comments this morning all over the media and SM are misplaced.

Apart from his very sexist and sexualised ick language about Motsi and Shirley, the article someone mentioned in the Mail (sorry, can't remember who?) with Len hits the nail on the head and concurs with many of you lot. If I want to see tits and arses and bondage middle aged man wank fodder outfits, prime time "family" TV on the Beeb probably wouldn't be my first choice of channel.

Interesting to read that the Motsi Bot is a completely different Bot on German TV. Just reinforces what many of us have been saying. They're acting out a script, all of them.

Not a vintage year. Not a vintage final. Right now I feel more than slightly manipulated and am Strictly'd out. I never watch the Christmas thing as it's just 40s all the way anyway. I'd agree with everyone it needs a radical overhaul for the same reasons everyone else said. Alce (I think it was) says it was sad having to explain to her mother what the fuck Fleur's dance was supposed to be- that, for me, is the most telling comment from all of you. It used to be something a 6 year old could watch with their nan. My 6 year old used to. We all did. I don't know who it's suitable for anymore. Even these threads, if you look back just a couple of years at our comments- we are talking about the DANCING. Not the performances, the outfits, the dead rellies and the he done did her wrong husbands. (might be an interesting drinking game though, if we all had to drink every time Fleur's dad was mentioned etc or Helen's husband wasn't but didn't need to be, we'd need our stomachs pumping)

I don't know if we'll make another thread this year but can I make a special appeal, if we do, to have @ArcaneWireless 's magnificent request at least up in lights on here in the thread title, if nowhere else (please God nowhere else) "I want to see Neil ride Jayde like a koala" I have their music ready. They could boop and play the pick me dance like a pair of courting stags to "I love Myself" by the Divinyls.

yep I agree @Alcemeg & @IconicKitty

Also- gird your loins for a bit of voting controversy, apparently lots of people trying to vote for (iirc) 01 or 1 or whatever received a recorded message back saying "thank you for voting blabla, your vote for "other number" has been recorded" Seems at some point there was a hitch in the system,

As Len (and all of the other judges at one tome) used to emphasise, ultimately this is a DANCING contest, NOT a POPULARITY contest.

It is a popularity contest where the competitors dance.

the final winner is down to the great British public, 90% of whom have no idea about the technical side of dance.

I didn’t think he looked cross - just crushingly disappointed. And it is ok to be that when you’ve worked your little Fosse tache off.

Helen virtually had to drag him across to congratulate Hamza, in stark contrast to the other couples who rushed over and looked genuinely delighted.

I've watched the last five minutes back twice now and I still don't get what people are saying about Gorka. When I saw all the hoo-hah over it, I thought he must have done something terrible that I'd missed. Fleur and Molly have known for weeks that they weren't going to win so had a chance to prepare their reaction to someone else's name being announced; Helen and Gorka found out in that moment and had reasonable expectations of the glitterball. It has to be remembered as well that Gorka was benched in series 17 so he has some indication that his tenure on the show isn't as secure as some of the other pros. He probably has a sense, even more than others, that the producers are monitoring the impact he makes each series.

Aye esma

And I would wait before I went across to congratulate because I wouldn’t want to hog their moment.

Don’t suppose they can win either way.

Perception innit. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I really wish they would release the voting figures to stop the complaining - or at the least, release them to the finalists to put their minds at ease that they were not robbed (and spare them any public humiliation).

Agree. Thought for sure she and Jojo would whip their hospital gowns off. But no :/

Meh. I don't think Gorka was foul but even if he was, I don't care. He is a brilliant dancer and usually great choreographer, though Helen's showdance was very unambitious. I always like the pissy competitive pros- Katya, Gorka, Brendan- over the smiley dull ones. Same goes for contestants. Give me a bit of naked ambition:)

Who was the first number for and who was the person it went to in error?

Same here!

Sick of dead relatives, personal journeys, kids, allergies, missing the bus on the way to the rehearsal et etc etc and want to go back to two dances/week, glorious costumes, accurate footwork, NO COUPLES' CHOICE BECAUSE IT IS NAFF, and get rid of the dry ice obscuring the feet and all of these CGI/hologram thingies.

I want the PURITY of the DAAAHNCE!

(Some great ideas for a shake up upthread, too)

I disagree. Look at Molly and Fleur's faces during the wait for the announcement. They look nervous (as does Hamza). Helen and Gorka look like they think they have it in the bag.

Yes, because Molly and Fleur had been in the DO so often they knew nothing would work. Must already have been composing their gracious losers' faces before they even stepped on the dance floor. As it turned out, they were right because the final became irrelevant.