STRICTLY COME DANCING 2023

[magicalkitty]

The first three celebrities will be revealed on The One Show tonight!

I get the impression he's going to be very annoying personality wise too.

The judges cannot save the ringers from the dance off eventually.
Even Danny ended up in one (when he danced to Misty Blue, still not over it!), Alexandra twice and Ashley was in three. Fleur and Molly were in four each?
We are sticklers for fair play/a level playing field and cutting down tall poppies. Anyone deemed over-confident/above themselves or up themselves go down like a lead balloon: you always have to be humble/self-deprecating*. Someone better make sure Layton gets the memo!
It might be quite refreshing if he nails it and says as much while his partner says, "Oh but you worked so hard!" whilst gagging him/standing on his foot/poking him in the ribs.
But I am being very naughty. I've no idea how well he'll come across yet. Certainly, there have been those who started to believe their own hype or thought they were better than they were Jayde and others who came across as insincere when acting humble Will.
You have to know how to play the game. Someone on here wrote a wonderful post about it about "how you have to be this but not this. Do this but don't do that." It is a strange show in that respect.

I think the ringers end up having dispiriting experiences- I don't know why they bother

Money, publicity, springboard. Look at Fleur - she's now presenting It Takes Two.

I can't find the post dammit. Thought it was on here but it could have been Digital Spy.
It was along the lines of "You have to be good but not too good and if you are good, don't admit you're good. Be humble but not insincere and if you're overcome with emotion, don't cry but also don't take it in your stride and if you do cry, take the mickey out of yourself for crying. Don't make it look too easy but if you do make it look easy, emphasise the work you put in but you mustn't moan, no one likes a whinger. You need chemistry but not too much chemistry, you can fake the chemistry but no one likes a showmance. Allude to one though because the viewers will want to ship you, unless you're married. Strictly curse boo. In which case bring in your babyz and say how much of a dad your partner is. But not a dilf. If no babys then nanz/kidz/schoolz/dead dogz but don't be too emotional as you'll be accused of manipulation but do bring in the family because you need to be relatable. But not too ded normal or Northern. You need to be fit but not too thin and pretty but not too young but also not old and you have to have a journey but don't spell out that you're having a journey and don't use the J word. You'll need to solicit public support but don't use phone hands, what's wrong with you, have you never seen the show?!" etc etc

(Something like that which showed all the contradictions of being a contestant on . Think Barbie monologue but with allusions to torture porn and Babywarz.)

They show you a lot more of the footwork on DWTS than on Strictly!

Johannes is my 2nd least favourite male (behind Neil!) - nothing to do with racism. I struggle to understand why he's so popular?!

I'm already getting thinking that he is being very attention seeking already with this announcement of being the first to dance in a dress, and demanding a same sex partner before the show's even begun.

I really don't want him to be paired up with Johannes, as it would just be too cliched and predictable. They would be trying to outdo each other in flamboyancy rather than complement each other. I can imagine Layton probably being diva-ish and trying to lead Johannes rather the other way round. Having said that, I really hope I'm wrong!

John Waite and Johannes' partnership worked really well, and you can see how much they cared and respected each other. John really embraced the dancing and looked up to Johannes, but Johannes treated him like an equal.

I think Layton may well go down as one of the most annoying contestants on Strictly. I hope I’m wrong but everything I’ve seen or heard from him has been all Me, Me, Me……

Also who cares if he wears a dress, women have worn tuxedos etc. but I expect we’ll get a very long and detailed explanation about why it’s such a big deal, from the man himself.

The judges cannot save the ringers from the dance off eventually.

No indeed, but they can save them all the way to the final.

Can't remember the routine but he first grabbed attention by running across the stage in a towel?!? He was also fab in Joe's Joseph salsa. I think many, including myself, loved his enthusiasm and the fact that he could be unapologetically himself and camp or flamboyant if he wanted to e.g. dancing in heels with fan in the Fame group number/Catherine's charleston. He was living his best life.
Representation is important and I was happy that a gay, black man was on screen. I also remember the days of old when Mathew, Ian and Robin had to stay closeted on the show: they even had showmances for them back in the day.
So Johannes was a breath of fresh air. I liked his routines with Catherine, thought he handled Caroline well, enjoyed most of his routines with John and was surprised by how far he managed to take Ellie.
He was wrong that the public eliminated him and Caroline based on his skin colour though.
“Not until Johannes came off, because he’s always looking at Twitter, and he went: ‘Oh God.’ I said: ‘What, Johannes?’ He went: ‘People don’t like the fact you licked me.’ I said: ‘Why not?’ He said: ‘You licked a black man.’ I said: ‘Do you think it’s that, Jo?’ He said: ‘I’m sure it is.’
The majority of viewers just hated the routine and the licking full stop.
I enjoyed some of Johannes's choreo with Ellie but not all. Still like him as a person although sometimes he's lachrymose. I'd quite like to see him with Layton though as he's not had a proper ringer yet and I enjoy sass and camp.

I've predicted him with Kai as he can then be lifted and also because Kai will balance the diva-ness. But Nikita deserves a ringer too and I'd probably be more excited about that pairing. Graz might work.
I've got Jojo with Annabel as she mentioned him in a recent interview (her and her recently deceased husband used to enjoy watching him).
It's tricky. Producers want headlines, showmances and story arcs. First gay winner (not only that but a man of colour dancing with a black pro) would be gold and would give them all that. It would upturn the myth that BAME contestants go out first or rarely win the title. First same sex partnership winning would be ground breaking. And I want that for Johannes, I really do.
But I remember Oti's partner Anthony griping that they shouldn't have been put together because the public wouldn't vote for them: "I didn't think that the BBC would put us together because we're black or mixed race. I honestly thought they would spread the minorities around."
I think that was bad grapes on his part as Nancy/Rhys, Oti/Ugo, Carlos/Molly have all shown the public vote for the dances themselves more than the pairings, maybe I'm naive. But I know that Johannes has had validation from being on Strictly and would hate for that bubble to burst (thinking of the brouhaha that would surround being paired with Layton, the homophobic tweets - he got many with John - and how vulnerable/fragile he'd feel if they were in the dance off repeatedly. I think he'd feel it was personal rather than because ringers + marmite personalities don't extend to votes).

Good point about Johannes, it hadn't occurred to me, but now you say it, he does seem a bit more emotionally vulnerable than some of the other pros, and I don't want to see him dragged through the dance-offs which I'm sure would be inevitable with Layton.

I've got my heart set on a pairing of Layton with Kai.

Layton and Johannes would be too predictable imo. I think Layton will be paired with a male who hasn't had a male partner before so it won't be Gio either.

I think in light of what John Waite has written about falling for Johannes it's unlikely J will have another male partner for a while as the speculation would be great.
Kai has experience of same sex dancing on Dancing with the stars in Ireland too. (I think it was a show dance).

I hope Gio will get Zara!

First gay winner (not only that but a man of colour dancing with a black pro) would be gold and would give them all that. It would upturn the myth that BAME contestants go out first or rarely win the title.

He has zero chance of winning.

Also, wasn't Joe McElderry the first gay winner?

I think that Kai will get Layton. Kai is very popular so may balance the hate that Layton is likely to get. I am another one who thinks that the Layton booking is a big mistake though.

Joe McFadden.

And according to a briefly Google search he says he's straight - somewhat to my surprise. He's certainly not out.

My money would be on him hitting the dance-off every Sunday from week 8 to the semi-final, yes, and being obliterated in the final by Bobby Brasier/Angela Scanlon.

But nothing's ever 100% on live TV. If Abbey Clancy can win the public vote, and Ore Oduba can turn public opinion around then anything is possible.

20 series = 20 winners = 5 BAME winners.

81.7% of the population of the UK is white. 75% of the winners of Strictly are white. There is nothing wrong with the Strictly statistics.

I think I said it upthread but the whole "Oh ballroom dancing is SO different to this other style of dancing I have made a living doing" just insults the viewers. We are not daft, even with no dance training (like me) you can see that the trained dancers are streets ahead of the complete novices. People like to see a "journey" - contestants like Rob Rinder, or John Waite, Katie Derham, Ranvir Singh - known for something completely separate from dancing, starting off not very good and then doing well. It is not entertaining to watch someone who is getting 9s in week 1.

Forget Layton. Caroline Quentin did that whole 'licking a fireman' cha cha dressed as Arthur Mullard dressed as Mrs Slocombe. That's some ninja-level genderbending.

What don't you like about him? I've been to a few of the pro independent shows and johannes was by far the best it was amazing.

It is the fakery attached to the “oh it was sooooo hard to learn the routine.” No, you learn dance routines regularly! There may be different techniques to master but they will also have better coordination, be used to doing different things with arms and legs, know how to keep in time, know how to finish a move elegantly etc…

I usually love strictly but this one person is overshadowing the whole show and I might have to give it a miss this year.