SCD '23 #19: In which we're crowning our Strictly champion!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

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It sounds like Amanda has money problems again.

While she was appearing in Sherlock, she declared herself bankrupt and she owed £120,000 in tax.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alison-phillips-rich-tax-avoiders-1759478

I've only just realised that Amanda Abbington & Katherine Parkinson are not the same person

All this time I said I liked AA, I thought she was the actress from Humans and In the Club and thought that was the same person as in Mr Selfridge!

Turns out that I've never seen anything that AA is in other than Mr Selfridge (& Strictly obviously!)

I assume the reason they don’t allow celebs to swap pro partners is the potential chaos it could cause if there’s several who want to swap. Plus the benched pros might not be the right height or whatever so not as simple as saying swap the pro for a benched pro. And those celebs who don’t swap might then argue that someone who does swap is being given an unfair advantage i.e. getting an element of choice with their partner. Easier just to not allow it (except where necessary due to pro injury/illness to ensure the celeb doesn’t miss out).

Imagine how embarrassing, awkward and potentially damaging it'd be for a professional dancer to be 'swapped' simply because there were difficulties in the partnership- unless they'd done something so dreadful it required an actual sacking, which hasn't happened yet.

Don't watch dancing on Ice so know nothing about the caprice situation... it must have been excruciating, how on earth did they explain it to the viewers?!

I don't recall much about the Caprice/Hamish debacle. Hamish was widely seen as a saintly angel being put upon by evil witch Caprice.

My feeling based on everything her winged monkeys "friends" put out on social media was that just because you're a woman being grotesquely attacked on social media using every misogynist trope in the book doesn't mean you're not an absolute nightmare. But I might have been wrong. It certainly didn't do her public image any good. She didn't get voted out, I misremembered, she withdrew, presumably because of the social media pile on.

I think I recall that DOI went out of their way to stand by Hamish and include him in pro showcases etc.

I really wish ‘lovely’ programmes like Strictly didn’t turn out to be massively political.

This season has been a bit of an eye opener.

I don't think it can be just about height though, or Bobby wouldn't have had Dianne. The cynic in me says that they put them together to give a 'youthful' look to hopefully appeal to a particular demographic. The even bigger cynic in me says they did it in the hope of starting 'romance' rumours and thus generating publicity
And I do agree with pps that there must be a pastoral element e.g. Johannes with Annabel. Although I wonder how they know – I guess they must just know their pros and look at their relationships with their past slebs?

The cynic in me says that they put them together to give a 'youthful' look to hopefully appeal to a particular demographic. The even bigger cynic in me says they did it in the hope of starting 'romance' rumours and thus generating publicity

Absolutely, and thats why Laura Whitmore was so vocal about it, especially considering Gio had recently broken up with her friend. I never saw her complaints against him - more against the producers. When she said that she wasn't comfortable with her partner, how could she have been when a) he'd been seeing her mate, but also b) the show were doing everything they possibly could to try and spark speculation about them.

I think thats why from the very beginning Dianne was so extraverted about seeing Bobby as a little brother, because she didn't want those rumours to start and affect her relationship with Joe. And I think she was absolutely right.

The problem this year was that Bobby should have been paired with either Luba or Nadiya for the height. But Nadiya is very "mumsy" for want of a better word (and I don't mean that disrespectfully) - they needed a partnership where the youthful exuberance could match each other (hence Dianne). Really, Bobby should have been with Luba, and Adam with Dianne,.

I've just looked them up. They were all born in 1989. Dianne's actually the oldest, and Luba the youngest!

Totally agree a more mature-looking woman would have been a very interesting match for Bobby; for my money, his best dance was his AT, where he was dressed/groomed like a grown-up and his persona was grown-up's persona too.
I'd only say that if anything I think Luba is the 'mumsy' one and he'd have bene great with Nadiya, who I think is a classic blond bombshell.

I think they said something like they partnered Bobby with Diane because he looked so young and other "taller" pairings just looked wrong.

I think they could/should have just styled him to look less young, which they clearly could do when they tried. His ballroom with Dianne looked weird and I think he would have looked much nicer with someone a better height for him.

@MarkWithaC I thought he'd have been great with Nadiya too. They'd have been such a striking couple.

Oh! Same!! I absolutely thought she was the one from Humans!!

So glad it wasn't just me @stockpilingallthecheese

In other Strictly news, Gorka has announced that he will be a judge on the Spanish version of Dancing with the Stars which starts this weekend.

Unless his appearances has been prerecorded in one block, it's going to be tough on Gemma and the children to have him fly in and out of the country. 🙁

Anyway, it's still an exciting opportunity for him and I hope it opens many other doors for him.

They might spend a couple of months in Spain with him. If night he would 'only' be away one or two nights a week which is less than he is for strictly.

That's great news for Gorka.

That's what Motsi does isn't it? From Germany.

It must get a bit wearing towards the end if a series. I don't really like airports and flying, so doing it every week for three months wouldn't be for me.

Gio was on the podcast, Traitors, uncloaked, with Ed Gamble, which is partly televised. I thought he didn't seem his usual bubbly self, he was quite subdued, which was sad to see.

I saw that but thought it was because he was a) out of his dance world comfort zone (he hasn't really been on much else besides Strictly related shows) and b) he isn't a native English speaker and the dialogue was fast and involved a bit of talking over each other etc.

Last year Gio and Anton did a documentary exploring Italy, didn't they? I didn't watch it (always meant to, then forgot), but I'm curious to see how he handled that kind of programme. Granted, he was doing it with a friend from Strictly and exploring his home country, but I don't think it involved any dancing.

Did anyone watch it?

Yes. It was lovely. They were such fun together and their friendship shone through. Rose was in both episodes too!!

Agree, Gio and Anton in Sicily was a lovely programme. They were so funny together!

Anton and Gio are doing another 3 part series, to be shown later this year. The last one was in Sicily and Gio was showing Anton the places that were special to him. Anton is showing Gio the places that were special to him when he was a child, with his family in Spain. From the photo it certainly looks like fun. They seem like such good friends as well. The last one had all their families meeting up for Gio’s birthday. I’m not sure if they will be celebrating anything special this time. It was a surprise to Anton that his wife and children were there in Sicily.