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.

I think she did really like him and wanted him to like her. And perceived his criticism of her dancing ( which he would interprete as pushing her to improve, because he thought she/they could do well) as disilke, or even 'hatred'.

Someone should have intervened but maybe to outsiders it didn't look as bad as it felt to her? More like a clash of personalities than abuse?

Except she claimed in that interview that producers did think it was bad, reviewing weekly footage and apologised to her face-to-face every Friday.
That is the damning part.

It's just all really sad the poor woman and her children have had death threats and threats of violence . Giovani should say something instead of pretending nothing happened and saying "she's a mad woman"

Thanks Mrsjayy I can’t link for some reason but just caught up with this on You Tube.

I’ve always been a big fan but Pasha comes across as such a genuinely good person; and wonderful what he is doing in memory of Robin.

It’s good to be reminded that decent people do exist in the world of dance.

And I think it showed good judgement that he left Strictly when he did.

Fwiw, I agree with what a pp said on one of these threads about the professionals having too much independence and autonomy.

They are all different and some may not necessarily be good teachers or communicators. Some we know are abusive. Some of them are young. They are obviously put under great pressure by the producers. Many come from quite misogynistic cultures. And the quality of a celebrity’s experience of Strictly should not just depend on chance as to whether they get a good professional or not. The BBC should have ensured that certain standards were adhered to across the board.

I can imagine a situation where they were saying sorry meaning 'I'm sorry you're clashing' and this has been interpreted as them being sorry for Giovanni's behaviour. I just can't believe someone wouldnt have called him out if this was the case. But maybe I'm naive.

Yes I also watched one of AA’s interviews just now. She made some good points I think and obviously is still traumatised by the whole experience. And she obviously went on the show with the expectation of working really hard.

The “mad woman” accusation is as hold as the hills isn’t it? I think she is a brave woman.

If I was being screamed at by my colleague on my third day at work, in a job I was new to, where he was meant to be mentoring me and showing me the ropes then I'd probably think "he hates me" too.
Filming them from then on is like keeping a log (we tell posters on here to do that whenever there's a thread about work-placed bullying).
Rose could switch him off (and said she did do, turning off her aid). I wonder about that, given non-verbal expression can also be fearsome - did she ever look at his face and see suppressed . What did the interpreter think or did Giovanni change his methods because he had to? Although the "Where is the stupid cow?" video might suggest otherwise.

I love some of Gio's choreography and I like to think I'm tough myself (as I put up with all kinds of bullshit on a daily basis. Resilience is overrated) but it wears you down, being shouted at. Day 3 should have been the honeymoon period.

If her version of events is accurate that tempers were already flaring.

Do we know he screamed at her?

Aw Pash showed in his snoring and lemon skits, that he's as bad as ever, bless It was a short but relaxed interview. Thanks Mrsjayy

For anyone who missed it Pash said it was sad and shocking about the current Strictly situation but people needed to be heard - Sunetra then praised all the pros - they were supportive to her - and she didn't want them all dragged in/tarred with the same brush.

They then talked about Robin and how funny and kind he was. Pasha did say he asked himself if he could have done more for Bobby and is one of the many pros, singers, dancers doing a tribute, a concert November 3rd, hosted by Lisa Riley to bring awareness of mental health.

I would hope there'll be a mention of him or tribute in the new series.
Although they shouldn't lay on part of the Strictly family too much, given he was axed after his operation, which neither helped financially nor mentally.
(He said himself it was probably due to health and safety even though he was physically fit but it was a real shame he couldn't have been part of the troupe and benched like Neil to be brought out for Xmas specials).

While there was no hint of tension between Zara and Graz I didn't get the impression they were getting on really well and I don't remember them being all touchy feely with each other.

Amanda and Gio didn't just have a hug, they stood up with Claudia and Gio had his arms round Amanda for most of the time. DH even commented when Gio was tickling her how well they seemed to get on. I don't like being hugged by anyone other than DH and would be quite angry if someone else tickled me.

No, we don't.
Exchange for spoken to robustly

I said before that Amanda had more abuse from the outset because of her views on trans

it seems they also approached James Dreyfus (who also had similar views) who said he would consider it if they would protect him online

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13671257/Actor-James-Dreyfus-reveals-talks-Strictly-year-asked-BBC-look-Amanda-Abbington-hearing-signed-voices-support-actress.html

honestly it sounds more and more like she was under such insane pressure before the show even started that I would almost see it as a half boiled kettle - add in criticism from gio from his direct teaching style that it sounds as if it pushed her over the edge.

i wonder if this is a situation where actually gio wasn’t wrong. But also she wasn’t wrong. It was just a colossal fuck up from all sides.

Quite frankly I think social media users owe her just as much of an apology as much as gio and or the producers.

It reminds me of Trump
Giovani could ask his fans not to threaten Amanda with rape or death and try to calm the situation whilst the investigation proceeds. He could ask that Amanda’s children are not dragged into things. This would show he is a decent man and he could do this whilst still refuting allegations.
Instead he labels Amanda a mad woman. He is inciting more trolling and potential violence.

I agree.
That's why I'm surprised that Shirley, in spite of her loyalty to Gio (which I'm not slamming her for, she is speaking from her own experience only) hasn't publicly decried the trolling against Amanda. Shirley's been through it herself. She knows what that feels like herself - she nearly quit Strictly over it.

I think it's both things as pasta says below me

What Giovanni would consider was his norm was triggering for Amanda

Amanda had baggage going in and wasn't necessarily robust

They were a bad match

She is very brave she didn't do anything wrong.

Katya Virshalis on Sky saying she experienced pro bullying and her first pro partner didn't treat or speak to her as she'd have expected but in her third series with pro partner Pasha the atmosphere was better.
Katya says producers know everything.

Sky said they'd reached out to Artem for comment.
Artem danced with her 2010 in her second series but her first pro partner (at least in the dance medley to open 2009 show) was Brendan so I'm not sure why it has been reported as below.

For professional performances, in one season she was partnered with former Strictly dancer Artem Chigvintsev, who she says she did not get on with.
“The way he treated me was not what I expected it to be. It was a really hard atmosphere to go into… you don’t feel like you’re good enough and you have the pressure of a professional dancer to look a certain way on the show and to be a certain way. So you expect a camaraderie from the other professionals, which… was not so great.”

Brendan

No!!! What an absolute shock!

It's a major pile on at this point though, you keep thinking what next ?

Yes. Colour me shocked for either.
I liked Katya. Not sure why she was axed.
Maybe they expected Dan Lobb to go further than he did.
Her and Gavin were fab.
I do wonder whether they look at the voting figures and derive pros' popularity from them too.
James Jordan was cut after being an early boot with Vanessa then Ola after first boot with Iwan. And poor Neil forever on the subs' bench.
Someone's crunching the numbers.

I've been thinking about Rose and Gio. He seemed to really like and respect her, but even so, she did say that he used to shout and she would turn her back to him so she couldn't lipread him, literally tuning him out. Also, crucially, she had a 'chaperone' as she always had her signer with her - so maybe he reined himself in more as a result.

Have I missed a Gio update?
I've caught up with today's posts and they're all basically saying it was prob his training style that was the issue, as opposed to anything more?

No Teddy it's just the usual speculation

Ak OK. thanks. There just seemed to be a shift in the tone of the posts.