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.

Max Whitlock and Stuart Broad! Best series ever !!

Thanks 🙂

Laura has put out on instagram that she spoke to the BBC along with six others.
She hasn't made an official complaint herself which is why her evidence hasn't been passed to Gio's lawyers but that she had brought up similar concerns in 2016 and that she believed her and others' experiences showed a repeated pattern of behaviour.

Insta

It seems like a never ending tide of turds

You're not wrong
Fresh crisis at ‘toxic’ Strictly as ex-staff claim they faced sexualised comments and cruelty | Strictly Come Dancing | The Guardian

I am impressed with Laura though.
Yes, her and Ranvir had been reported as having complained.
But both neither confirmed nor denied.
She's clearly seen Gio's side putting it out there that they've only had to answer to Amanda's allegations and thought fuck that.
Fair play to her, seriously.

Hi side saying ‘There were some who you might not have expected to give Gio a positive report, but they did.’ I'm betting a mars bar that'll be Michelle.

I can well believe that Guardian story but it isn't really unique to Strictly. Film and television is a notoriously toxic place to work. I know someone who worked on the crew of an American drama series who said the PR for the show and the stuff the cast put out on social media made it look like everyone loved each other but, in truth, the two lead actors hated each other that much it came to physical violence, and both of them were a complete nightmare to work with. Everyone was utterly miserable. I guess the difference is Strictly isn't meant to be a work of fiction and the audience want to believe that what you see is what you get.

Debbie

I’m surprised at Ranvir I thought she was absolutely besotted with him.

If it’s six others he’s only had nine partners I think. So only two didn’t complain or speak up. Debbie and Michelle?

I didn't think he got along with Michelle at all.

I thought his partnerships with Debbie and Rose were the only ones that worked but apparently he was sometimes horrible about Rose.

Georgia, Laura, Faye, Michelle, Ranvir and Richie? And Amanda.

One of the things that's unique to Strictly is the fact that the participants (dancers and celebrities) have to perform in such close proximity to each other - often in very intimate positions. It must be hard enough to do this if you really like and trust your dance partner. But if any of the celebrities were abused by their dance partners (physical abuse, verbal abuse or emotional abuse), then it just doesn't bear thinking about what it must have taken for them to plaster on a smile and endure the daily training and the weekly performance and hug their partner afterwards and thank them for being such a patient teacher, or gush about how they would be lifelong friends, or whatever they thought they needed to say at that moment. And we (the viewers) feel like we have been complicit in the whole thing because we fell for the fantasy.

I often wondered about that intimacy. I also wonder whether that’s what the sexual humiliation was about- an unpleasant or crude comment about that intimacy.

And it’s shocking and shameful that there have been repeated complaints that have been swept under the carpet. At that point it becomes negligence.

I'd love him to take part, but he's been pretty explicit about not being interested.

We'd all expect Debbie to give him a positive report (sorry if it was an ironical comment). She's the only one who has stood up for him wholeheartedly and spoken out on social media on his behalf.
Michelle, however, people might have expected a negative report as they argued so much and this was leaked at the time. Fiery Italians my ass.
But given she is on the record as saying as much and insisting they got on anyway, I'm not in the least surprised that she didn't go back on it. They'll have asked her for balance and she's stuck to what she thinks: he's a hard taskmaster whose training isn't for everyone but she got on with him (she also emojied a heart to him and a teary face at one point).
The seven may not all be contestants - there was an ex dance partner slating him. But if the Beeb were asking his ex slebs, you'd have thought they'd have asked all nine - maybe only seven wanted to speak.
Georgia as an ex might have declined altogether. Debs already sailed her colours to the mast for her own experience.
Rose iirc had a positive experience but wasn't going to decry other women's right to speak out.

How can the Beeb investigate themselves though for - do they hire ex-police or a company or what?

Hearsay that it was a lewd comment about the salsa lift and/or Jonathan wanting to/or being able to shag her if she got it wrong. Or it was a separate comment about him being able to perform in the bedroom. Both Chinese whispers (there's always someone who claims to know someone who works on the show. It's like AMAs on here. Could be anyone claiming anything).

Showmance.
She actually met and was seeing a Strictly production runner on set, many years her junior.
I think they're still together.

Louis Church - she's 47, he's 29 - so an 18 year age gap. He is/was a production secretary.

Are you allowed to say which one Esma given it's not really a controversial statement? I want you to say Moonlighting but I suspect you're years younger than me and that was a comedy rather than a drama.

I missed part of what you said before I posted!

the two lead actors hated each other

Sherlock?

Ooh, I heard that. Good call. But Es said American not British!

Oh no, it's American, there I go scrolling and not reading properly again!