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.

Does she still work for the Beeb?

This doesn’t make it right but twenty years ago there was no “me too” movement and we hadn’t gone through the Epstein and Weinstein debacles … . A lot has changed in two decades thank goodness.

A lot has come out in the last two decades - many of the stories are from yonks ago and many were reported on at the time - it's only when you add them all up in one go that you realise that one fifth of contestants didn't live the dream. It was always sold as personality clashes. Injury porn. The Strictly Curse then brought a huge amount of publicity for the show.
So there's always been an underside to it, which we as viewers have also turned a blind eye to/been complicit in. I have anyway.

Wow that Twitter post is appalling. I don't know how the BBC are going to come back from this, seems like there's more accusations every day! And makes a mockery of this whole Strictly Family narrative (cult ) they've been promoting for years...

Having listened to Richard and Marina's podcast what they said about it perhaps attracting vulnerable people who have transformative expectations struck a chord

Because if she had an otherwise happy experience she might regard the injury as one of those things rather than something the show was at fault for. I'm sure celebs are aware that there is a risk/danger of injury but a pure accident is different from pressurising someone with a disability to do something that is a no no for someone with their condition.

I think that was just bad luck wasn't it? Like Jade Johnson. Gutting though.

Surely that's madness. How could getting rid of Amy/Johannes/Nikita for example make Strictly look less red in tooth and claw.

She does ITV stuff I think she presents big brother.

I think it’s the Gorka Karen and Katya crowd at risk

The problem with doing psychological checks to see whether the celebs are up to it is whether you end up having to say to eg Will Young, Amanda Abbington, Rachel Riley or Sophie Ellis Bextor "no, we won't hire you for the biggest show on telly. You think you're up for it, we think you're too fragile"?

You can match the pros and celebs more carefully, you can give pep talks, you can have words with Craig (though frankly the judging has been watered down so much since the departure of Grumpy Len that I'd be surprised if that were a problem). But in the end it's huge pressure to perform perfectly live on the biggest show on TV in the full glare of social media, and some people perhaps shouldn't do that at some stages in their lives. Who gets to tell them no?

I'm sure people who've thought about it more deeply than me have good suggestions but to me it seems like a minefield.

I suspect so, but firing them at this stage, if you keep the more obviously sweetness-and-light pros looks a lot like an accusation with zero evidence. I know they're not employees but it would be pretty rough.

I'd be surprised if we saw Karen competing in 2025 mind you.

Yeah I agree ‘replacing’ anyone at this stage would look like an accusation

Perhaps people will be given an opportunity to jump instead, ahead of being pushed.

I thought that was an -ahem - marriage for visa purposes.

Vick Hope said she found it difficult to understand him which I found surprising since she is multilingual

Yes Nicole was born in Sourh Africa. But for the purposes of the Immigration service he's bisexual /discovered his sexuality at a late age much to his own surprise.

Melanie Blake is getting questions on TwitterX about why she didn’t Do Something. Talk about blaming the wrong person!

I noticed that she praised Bruce, Tess and the judges (this predated Claudia). It was an evenhanded post. I don’t get the impression she has an axe to grind.

Me neither @TennisWithDeborah - horrific post though if that's the reality!

Dreadful!

She says in the comments that the disgusting married man was not James, but that she won’t be doing a Q and A about his identity. Fair enough. She’ll complain if and when she’s ready I’m sure.

She is, but not Italian. So he'd have been talking in his broken English as it was

I liked Matthew. Shame he got cut. Same for Darren, Lilia, Hayley, Anya. I loved Anya.
I was trying to work out if cuts/leaving/jumped before pushed had any trend/connection with producers but I'd need Monkseal for that.
Seemed to be more change in personnel early on though.
Figures below including upcoming series (wiki)
I still cannot get over Karen's tenure.

Anton 18 promoted
Brendan 15 cut (Shirley?)
Karen 13
Aljaz 10 back (left for Hollywood "paternity leave")
Erin 10 left
Gio 9 pushed
Gorka 9
Katya 9
Ola 9 cut
Dianne 8
James 8 cut
Janette 8 side move ITT
Kristina 8 left
Pasha 8 left
Amy 7
Flavia 7 left
Kevin 7 left (musical theatre)
Natalie 7 left
Oti 7 left (TV opps)
Vincent 7
Aliona 6 left
Camilla 6 left
Ian 6 cut ITT
Lilia 6 cut
Darren 6 cut
Johannes 6
Nadiya 6
Matthew 5 cut
AJ 4 left (How's Trish?)
Artem 4 left (for USA)
Graziano 4 fired
Karen 4 left
Kai 4
Luba 4
Nancy 4
Nikita 4
Robin 4 cut (injured) ITT
Carlos 3
Iveta 3
Jowita 3
Katya 3
Neil 3
Nicole 3 cut
Vito 3
Brian 2
Joanne 2 left (musical theatre)
Lauren 2
Paul 2
Tristan 2
Andrew 1
Anya 1
Gleb 1 left (for USA)
Hanna 1
Hayley 1
Hazel 1
Izabela 1
Jared 1 I think I was the only one who liked him!
John 1
Kylie 1
Oksana 1
Trent 1

Strictly Pro Poll 2020 – The Results | The mighty mighty Monk Seal (wordpress.com)

Much missed, never bettered

(this was his last poll and gives reasons for some of the above going when they did)

Of the ones with the short tenures I loved Tristan and Iveta and really liked Anya Oksana and Trent. Trent was a really strong choreographer. I loved that camp pro routine he choreographed for Bruno Sings! I'd rather ex-pros did the show's choreography than those commercial choreographers they used.

There used to be someone with genuine insider gossip on Digital Spy (always had info days before it came out in the press) who said that Joanne Clifton (who was a proper World Champion ballroom dancer) really struggled to do choreography in her first year and needed lots of intervention, which is why she was benched the next year.

Tristan would definitely need a burly chaperone, and an electric cattle-prod, if I were partnered with him. Maybe pepper spray.