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

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

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A news item popped up on my Facebook page earlier saying that apparently it was Gio who asked for the cameras in the training room due to Amanda's behavior what a shit show.

I saw that too. Presumably there'd be some kind of email trail for that.

A shit show of her making by sound of it!

@EvilRingahBitch when it all came out about Jeremy Hunt having his own ballroom studio at home I think we all resoundingly agreed that there’s not enough brain bleach in the world to get rid of the image of him in lycra dancing a rumba!

We're now definitely entering Cast Reveal season. The Sun (normally reliable) has gone big on Chris McCausland for the 2024. I've been hoping to get him as a contestant for a couple of years now, on the grounds that the paralympians in "the disability slot" are normally charming, but a bit samey, and Chris has got a really appealing character and would make a change.

I'm guessing he'll be a bit crap, but for reasons totally unrelated to his disability.

Fair play to him if so, as that will be extremely tough to pull off, more so than it was for Rose, I would think.

There was a blind contestant on The Wheel last night and he had to remember the options for the answers! I hope the Beeb treats a blind contestant on Strictly better.

Chris McCausland was on HIGNFY this week and had to have everything described to him. I don't know whether they primed him more fully on what the video clips were off air or something.

i can't see how a Blind contestant would work on something like Strictly. It would be extremely difficult to describe the moves and a nightmare to choreograph safely I would have thought.

It'll be a test of the pro's teaching ability certainly, and you'd expect more working in hold than normal, but surely the essence of dance teaching should come from within your body, not trying to replicate what other people look like.

I think it'll be a really good challenge for all concerned. I notice that his 2024 tour, which was over, has suddenly been extended, starting in January 2025, which indicates that he isn't expecting to be doing the Strictly tour, but is expecting a big profile bounce.

Obviously a blind person would be better at balancing without relying on sight but I can't imagine things like Charleston and jive being at all easy.

it would certainly be interesting to see how they'd manage it all.

Ordinary "free" dance would come from within but Strictly is very much about replicating moves and a specific look.

Chris was on House Of Games not long ago. They amended the questions for him.

But each specific move should be taught from the inside rather than the outside, muscle by muscle.

Interestingly Google tells me that a partially sighted paralympian won DWTS Ireland this year. But a) there's a big difference between partially sighted and 0% sighted when it comes to not bumping into the scenery and b) he wasn't really that good - not terrible, but not great.

I didn't watch that whole week: the one I saw they took a few rounds out that wouldn't have worked on hearing alone, but interestingly in most cases they simply took the questions off the screen in the studio so all the contestants were having to play along using memory alone. I think they did Answer Smash with songs instead of photos.

TV still showed the questions on screen for the benefit of viewers: DH looked away from the TV to play along, but I'm hearing impaired so had to pick and choose between subtitles and playing fair.

I worked with blind children for quite a few years. Their short term memory and ability to map places, positions, spacing etc is phenomenal; a fair few of them were also very rhythmical and musically gifted. I don't know the person mentioned, but I'd love to see a blind contestant on Strictly.

... ability to grasp a concept and retain information, I should have said, rather than "short term memory"

I would like to see it too. I couldn't see how on earth they were going to make it work with Ellie Simmonds but her and Nikita were amazing.

He's brilliant, there are many categories in blind sports and I'd consider dancing a sport.

I’m looking forward to this. I saw him on Would I Lie to You a few years ago and he was great.

I wonder if the fact that he hasn’t been blind since birth would make a difference.

He was in the Living in the Dark show (not sure of exact name) that Danny Dyer hosted & he was great in that - he had the advantage in that show which was a first for him.

He was on a travel show, where comedians took him on holidays. They had to give him experiences and describe where they were. They found it very difficult to describe places. He had the best experience with Liza Tarbuck because they went to Niagara Falls and they went on the boat, the Maid of the Mist, so he could feel and hear the Falls. I’m not sure how easy or difficult it would be to explain or demonstrate dancing though. I wonder if they would need more than one choreographer. It would be really interesting though.

I can’t help feeling that Amanda has played it wrong in talking to the Daily Mail and telling them Giovanni was ‘nasty and awful’. According to them ( which I know is a very dodgy premise) she rang the paper and was very angry about the fact that it had been suggested that Giovanni asked for the rehearsals to be recorded when in fact it was her. But then I saw the DM reporter on Twitter saying she ‘needs to make her mind up’ as she told the Sun it was the BBC. It’s all very very odd.

I would think it would be easier for somebody blind to be taught by a pair of teachers rather than just one doing the opposite role, but I don't know how they'd work that with the celeb/pro system.

Latin might be quite difficult. I have danced ballroom blindfolded before and (despite worrying about whether my partner was going to bang me into anyone!), I could follow and dance normally. So once he's learned step patterns I think ballroom would be reasonably ok. In Latin though your eyes are usually one of the connection points, and you can often tell from the look of your partners body what they're going to do. It would be interesting to see how they manage that. I know in a choreographed routine it's a bit different to social lead/follow though.

I think he might be a bit of a dad dancer, but that doesn't have anything to do with his sight.

I'm going to be very disappointed if he doesn't do it because I am really interested in how they are going to manage it.

I'm going to assume there will be no lifts that involve throwing and catching!

Gio is not returning to Strictly this year .