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

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

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Well indeed what does that mean?

I'm glad they dealt with this quickly instead of leaving it hanging over everyone's heads like they did with Giovanni.

Hope Zara is OK.

I'm astounded they don't have better safeguards in place.

Very odd. Graz is a top guy and I’ve seen Giada with Zara at shows. Something g doesn’t add up .

Wow!
That's an interesting development.
Cleaning out the closet then.
I thought Aljaz was there in case Jojo couldn't partner because of Kinky Boots and they needed someone tall.
Hadn't heard any rumours at all about Graz in any way whatsoever.
Not my favourite pro at all but still the speed of this is insane.

Neil might get a pro after all!

Zara hasn't deleted any of her Strictly insta posts and I'm sure I saw a story when she watched Graziano's show in the spring. I wonder if the bbc reviewed all the training tapes and saw something they didn't like.

DM says "The complaint was not made by Zara herself but followed a number of Strictly’s production staff raising Graziano’s behaviour with bosses.
BBC chiefs then contacted her management and she was invited in to be interviewed about his behaviour."

@ReadyTeddy1000 , thanks for that. It's going to be interesting to see which celebs sign up this year.

Yep. It's so disheartening to see so many comments online defending him, despite knowing nothing about what happened.

From the DM:
While appearing on Strictly in 2023, Zara said of her dance partner: 'Bless Graz, I have started with literally no dance or performance experience whatsoever and he has been putting all of his energy into teaching me, with so much kindness, patience and passion.'

When she was eliminated from the BBC show, Zara broke down in tears as she said: 'I have had the time of my life. Just to be here is incredible. Thank you to the judges and my amazing partner obviously.'

Doesn't sound like she had a problem with him at all so what has happened to make the BBC sack him?

Obviously something huge if it's gross misconduct which he has accepted.

Also, remember that many women don't make accusations for many reasons.

Dare say there’s more to come out about this yet. Very odd if it wasn’t Zara that complained how would anyone know?

Her boyfriend Sam still follows him, sorry but if it was anything bad I don't believe he would.

I think something has come out in Gios case and some bbc staff have said "well graziano does the same and his partners haven't complained..." then they have investigated (interview with Zara etc) and had to sack him too so that it's a fair dismissal across the board.

I think Zara didn't find it an issue with the training but the BBC have now got themself in to a position where they need to stick to their ridiculous boundaries on everything.

Strictly is finished from this, if I was a professional I'd now be worried to teach given it seems you need to just let the celebrity take the lead and let them go out on Saturday night and embarrass themselves 🤯

Well, either ‘nothing could have happened, there are always loads of people around’ (said by someone about Amanda, or ‘who would know anything except her?’.

I’m afraid this will really hit hard. I think there’s a risk the shine has gone and strictly is on the ropes.

And I thought Kevin was a love rat who dumped someone brutally…? Or was that someone else?

That's a lot of assumptions made on your part!
Nobody is sacked for gross misconduct unless there's a watertight reason.

I do think that it's possible that the Giovanni situation has prompted the producers to think "oh shit, we don't actually know what constitutes unacceptable behaviour in the training room" so they've gone back though all the footage from last year in order to set consistent boundaries that they can point to in the future and also during discussion with Amanda / Gio's lawyers. When they'd done that, they could have found stuff from Graz which went way over the line.

I can well believe that Zara, without a performance background, didn't know what was appropriate - loads of people had fondly remembered charismatic teachers who on retrospect behaved in ways that were not OK.

That makes sense @EvilRingahBitch

Definitely possible. As is what was actually said, that "a number" of production staff raised the complaint.
This might have been looked into for ages, we just don't know.

It will be interesting how they perform this year - the pros will be walking on eggshells - they'll all end up doing a Tony Beak.
With the emphasis on FUN.
I'd be wanting a chaperone to protect all parties/act as an individual witness.
Karen already seemed checked out last series. With recent allegations of training putting the strict into strictly, maybe they'll all dumb it down/go through the motions more.
Let's hope there's a Joe Wicks or a Scarlett Moffatt or an Olympian there.

But there's a massive difference between being strict in training and being sacked for gross misconduct!

Yep.

Dancing is a sport, so only an idiot would be surprised by long days of training and mild levels of frustration etc. But its very hard to sack someone, so for a high profile case like this it will be water tight gross misconduct.

It's all so odd. Graziano seems like one of the more benign pros, in fact almost too nice to his celebrities. If it was an affair then they would have to sack half the pros on Strictly and if the producers cracked down on that sort of thing it would ruin the whole 'are they or aren't they?' aspect of the show. It's even weirder that the complaint comes from production staff months after the series ended.

I think it is going to be really hard for the pros to gauge what is and isn't acceptable. I remember Helen George, for example, saying Aljaz made her do things over and over again until she had done them perfectly ten times in a row and that this would make her cry, to which he was unsympathetic. To some people that would be tough but effective teaching and to others, bullying. The dance world is famous for its strict teaching.

I am aware but how do you stop the leaks/prove the difference?
How do the other pros approach it this year?
Was all training filmed for all couples last year, do we know?
Zara had many physical injuries last year and a stress fracture of the tibia by December.
I believe she was pushed too hard, yes.

Zara compared the routine to "doing cardio for 10 hours a day." She was seen asking Graziano to take five from training, to which he replied: "This is your break. Honestly, this is your break. After you've finished this we go again and again. So, count this, 30 seconds of story minus another 30 seconds and then we go again."

We don't know what he did though!
I think its safe to assume he did something pretty severe to have been sacked very quickly (given that he was recently named as a pro for this series)

It may or may not come out over the next week.
This is why, at heart, I am a Fanton.
We'd dance, I'd half-arse it, we'd stop for a , dance a bit more then come up with a routine where he dusts the floor with me, diverts or distracts with a costume reveal, makes a risque joke or lets me fall on him. Or preferably all four within 90 seconds

Can you imagine how long Aliona, James and Brendan would last these days?