Strictly Come Dancing '24 Thread 1 : Who will be our celebs and Pros?

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

Starting a new SCD thread for chat prior to the series as the last is about to fill.

These threads are usually helmed by @PolkadotsAndMoonbeams and I normally deputise, but I haven't seen her around in a while

This thread will discuss who has been chosen for the show, but not who has been paired with who as that's a spoiler for the first show.

This is a NO SPOILER thread

Get Ready To KEEP DANCING.

The pros know that if they don't make an impact on the public then they stand a good chance of being benched or dropped altogether. Perhaps the pros wouldn't be martinets in the training room if they didn't think their career was hanging by a thread all the time.

Totally agree with this. And once they leave or are booted off Strictly, there is precious little to do outside, except for the very few like Kevin Clifton.

Not at all what I'd expected this thread to be about - post Gio I thought we'd be marking time until the new celeb reveals. I hope Strictly can survive this I need it to get me through the winter. Even if I hate all the faffin' and Halloween and 'friends for life' falseness and hideous costumes and and and...

I just read there is video footage of Graziano shouting, hitting, kicking and spitting at Zara. Absolutely disgusting and hard to believe no one knew this about him. No statement he makes can excuse this surely.

It's interesting that Zara and Vick seemed more vulnerable than his other partners, and they're also the two who didn't seem to gel with him....

I can totally understand why Zara did not report it at the time.

Well, now we know why Alijaz has been brought back out of retirement.

I’m not that shocked about Giovanni, given the way Amanda left. I am very shocked about Graziano though. He seemed like one of the nice ones.

Remember all the 'jokey' training room footage we used to get of Oti strapping her celebs to broom handles or threatening to tweak their nipples? IIRC, she also used to make them drop and do press-ups as a punishment. Or what about Karen hissing at people and biting them? I don't want anyone to be hurt or bullied but I also don't want the producers to introduce an atmosphere of over-caution and fear.

If this is true, then I am obviously a terrible judge of character, because I thought that he was one of the professionals with a more relaxed approach to teaching
The whole thing is sad

Maybe just maybe the pros need to not physically intimidate or bully the celebs. I mean, they're meant to be professional! This footage of graziano has been said to reduce people to tears! Why did people not speak up who were actually filming this in the first place?!

Thanks for the new thread.

Sounds like the production crew may have to answer some questions too if they were aware that this took place (via training videos) and didn’t do anything.

I’m so sad to read this about Graziano today. He’s my absolute favourite professional. I only know of what I read on the BBC news site earlier. I’m shocked now to hear there is video footage yet it’s only being acted on now. Very confusing as it’s reported he and Zara have remained friends since she left the programme 🤷‍♀️

It's just really weird because Graziano would have known all this was being filmed by people who were actually there in the training room and that the footage would be seen by production staff looking for material for It Takes Two or the live show VT's. So if we are talking about actual deliberate physical violence, shouting and spitting then he wasn't worried that people would see it and the production staff either didn't think there was anything wrong with it at the time or they did but didn't bother doing anything about it. In fact we were all left with the impression that Graziano was a bit too nice for his own good. I mean, what is going on behind the scenes if they didn't bat an eyelid at that behaviour until now?

Not sure, they used to have cameramen but now it may just be a camera set up in a corner.

What a shit show
This year is going to be very different

Well I’m shocked if indeed he has been hitting and kicking. Even spitting at her. Why didn’t anyone say anything before now?
Maybe the producers have reviewed a lot of rehearsals footage and have only just seen it?
What does Graz mean on his insta about external forces and telling his own story? All very odd. I love strictly we don’t need anymore drama.

Do they have cameramen in the rooms for training, or they just set cameras up then leave?

But the footage from the training room is used to make VT's so people must have seen it back when the show was being made. IIRC, there's usually a researcher with the camera person noting the time that anything interesting happens so the footage is easier to edit. They can't only just have noticed this stuff now.

Maybe they should strip it right back with pro dancers. They get one season each then the go to do whatever they would have done without strictly. But then the ones who were voted out would be massively disadvantaged and no chance to redeem themselves so…that’s not an answer either.

But I’d like to see a strict schedule, no early mornings and late nights, just a sensible number of hours agreed beforehand, so everyone does the same number overall.

It's quite baffling how no one noticed it earlier. The Beeb have a lot of explaining to do. Safeguarding seems to be non-existent

Time for Pasha to return hopefully.

Back in the day there used to be a camera person and a researcher filming the training sessions all the time. These days I suspect that they cut costs by either only having these crews there for some of the time or by setting the cameras up and leaving. IIRC, some of the couples rehearse in the same gyms or dance studios and I bet the crew go between them.

However, someone still has to edit the footage. Even if you were fast-forwarding through it I am sure you would notice a pro hitting and kicking and spitting at a celeb. They can't have only just noticed this stuff months later.

I'm not sure about the training hours. I know some celebs have signed up to the show and been taken aback by how much they are expected to train. Jennifer Gibney (from Mrs Brown's Boys) said the producers persuaded her by telling her she would have to train for 12 hours a week. She found the actual schedule too hard to fit around filming. But then you get the Danny Mac type celebs who are doing the show to further their careers and want to push themselves as much as possible in rehearsals.

I’m so shocked about Graz!

Not a good look for the show.

I’ve just checked and Zara isn’t following him on instagram any more.

I hope it’s not true that he was spitting on her!