SCD '24 #5: Where we lose our first couple (SPOILER FREE)

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I've made this a bit early because my dinner is going to be ready just before the end of Strictly and I don't want us to run out of space! Please finish up the other thread first.

First dance off is looming...

Previous thread

Spoiler thread if you like to indulge.

Video thread. Please post videos here to avoid slowing the main thread down.

So one week after they recycled the song from my favourite ever AS (Danny and Oti) they are recycling the song from my favourite ever VW (Katie and Anton).

As usual I am annoying they have chosen so many children's films. It seems to be part of the general trend of Strictly being less and less for the grown-ups.

I wish they would have Musicals Week in Week 3. The songs from musicals are just a better fit for Strictly.

I've never seen The Little Mermaid but apparently he is being ....... an eel.

Knowing Strictly they'll probably shove the poor man into some three-headed dog furry outfit.

One of Ursula's pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam. Which is a choice.

That's gotta be one of the worst Strictly song lists I've ever seen !!!
Shockers are Wayne's World
The Magnificent Seven Theme
Souls from Little Mermaid
Harry Potter song etc etc

I’m busy on Saturday night and it doesn’t exactly look as if I’ll be missing a banger of a show tbh! I don’t like movie week on the whole, anyway.

The music choices have been getting worse and worse as time goes on but this year whatever fumes have been affecting the costume department for a while now seem to have drifted down the corridor to music.

Vicki G Inhales "oh I know which fabric we can make Paul Ms trousers out of"

Down the corridor

Music chooser, takes a few deep breaths "ahh yes and American smooth to Vindaloo".

They are all off their heads on something.

From the Daily Mail article, on some of the things that Giovanni said:

"Meanwhile, the allegation that the Sicilian born ballroom star had also given negative feedback was upheld, one example of which was him throwing his arms in the air and saying 'f.' As a result, Mr Pernice was told by the BBC that he didn't adapt enough to Ms Abbington's needs.
Of the two complaints which were upheld of a sexual nature, one saw Mr Pernice grab his crotch and utter a lewd remark. He also told his dance partner that he 'wanted to f' her. That comment came after Ms Abbington had pulled off a great move in the training studio and Mr Pernice was thrilled."

Yuck. And that first part makes me feel anxious, reminds me of my PE teacher at school!

Ursula/eel and samba has been done brilliantly many seasons ago on DWTS - Rumer Willis and Val did an amazing job and got very high marks.
See the video thread - it's well worth a watch!

Page 2 | SCD 2024: The One With All the Videos 🪩 | Mumsnet

I think we'll have to agree to disagree, Sequins , although Rumer did very well with what she was given.

Montell's Tango see Danny Mac
Punam's Couple's Choice Boo, I wanted Maahi Ve so much. This is less catchy
Sam's Paso U2 - could be worse but I prefer traditional not rock pasos. Sam will look good as Lara though. A past contestant I'm sure was down for this but got eliminated before movie week, I've forgotten who it was
Sarah's VW see DWTS Emma Lynch. Also Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas ICONIC I'll put it on the video thread
Tasha's Rumba see DWTS Chandler and Brandon from just 6 days ago
Toyah's Samba see DWTS Rumer and Val - I have posted on video thread. It was ICONIC
Jamie's QS yawn - see Chris and Aljaz's shoulder pads Jake Wood's quickstep
JB's AS see Ore Oduba's foxtrot
Nick's Charleston I do have a soft spot for Hugh Grant. Brollies as props though always a bit risky and pink stripey jail suits, poor Nick
Paul's CCC Didn't we already do cowboys this week?
Pete's Samba jungle dance maybe but Watch out for that tree, no
Shayne's VW see Katie Derham ICONIC I dread to think what Shayne with an Elvis bouffant's going to look like
Wynne's CCC What, no Dude (looks like a lady) with Katya playing the hoover?!
Chris's Jive Jesus, is this just so we can see Chris headbanging in a mosh pit?

That's okay but...
She got 39/40 (9 from Len, 10 from Bruno)
Honestly, it went down brilliantly on the night (she ended up winning the )

'I'm tired of it, if you want to look shit I don't care.'
'You have such talent and you're not using it.'
'I don't know how to ask you anymore.'
'It has been four days now and I don't know what to do.'
'Fucker.'
'[that's so good] I want to fuck you now.'
and a crotch grab.
However, those comments under the line, fuck me.
Do any of them watch the show?
You cannot watch Amanda's salsa and accuse her of not trying hard enough, being weak, a snowflake or not cutting it. She worked like a trojan to achieve that standard in a week.
I would have been like Michelle Visage and given it straight back. Although she said she needed a slave-driver and they had a love-hate relationship (to the extent she allegedly advocated/supported him in the investigation) there were stories at the time they weren't getting along/were arguing a lot. If someone said "fucker" to me, I'd be calling them a wanker and yes, I will look shit on Saturday fuck you very much. It appears that Amanda placated/took it/apologised all the time/took the blame.
If I said three of his statements above - even in adult education - I'd have to resign/I'd be fired.

(my comment from an adjacent thread under my Inside No. 9 name)

There's a cover of The Magnificent Seven theme tune on the War Child Help album by The KLF that I bloody love. Not sure that it would fit a cha cha cha but never say never. I remember when we heard that Katya and Joe (McFadden) were doing samba to Money from Cabaret and thinking that it would be a total car crash and it turned out to be bloody amazing! It would be my favourite ever Strictly samba but Oti and Danny's is the best one I've ever seen and I still watch it regularly. I watch Katya and Joe's too but it's the heat of Oti and Danny's that sets it apart. I watch a lot of their dances back. He was sublime.

Some of what Giovanni Pernice said as reported in the Fail makes no sense. Or no fucking sense as he might say. Amanda was good and the dances of hers we saw showed a woman who had been working her arse off. Sounds like he would rather teach with a stick than a carrot. I was sad when she left because she was such a joy to watch but I totally get it and clearly it wasn't just her.

I used to think he was an arsehole. Talented but an arsehole. Then he was paired with Rose and she seemed to humanise him. After this last year I've gone back to my original opinion. I'm not sorry that he's gone.

Gio's sexual comments were terrible.

I don't think Chris will have longevity. I think the final will be-

Sarah
Tasha
Montel
JB

Would be nice to have a female heavy one.

Maybe Vito will be bare chested with wings! Swoon.
Or more likely trussed up like chicken.

Toyah and Neil looked happier together on ITT last night, but Toyah does seem to have an over inflated view of her own ability.

She always did.
She imagined that she was a talented singer when she was younger.
😂

'I'm tired of it, if you want to look shit I don't care.'
'You have such talent and you're not using it.'
'I don't know how to ask you anymore.'
'It has been four days now and I don't know what to do.'

I'm not sure I'd have a problem with those TBH. I imagine it is a very tense environment in the training room and frustrating for the pro. I imagine they choose the pros for the Duffers very carefully because of that!

'[that's so good] I want to fuck you now.' and a crotch grab.

Clearly inappropriate. It's a good few steps further on from "that was so good I could kiss/hug you" and steps well over a line.

This was a badly chosen partnership due to Amanda's apparent vulnerability (not a criticism) and Giovanni's techniques. She would have been better with someone like Aljaz who seems gentler and less "bulldog". I hope they've learnt from it.

I watched her early songs on You Tube recently. I loved Its a Mystery and Thunder in the Mountains when they came out but they are shit (might be due to the sound quality though)

I find those first four very belittling, insulting and disparaging. They sound like gaslighting lines too ('it's not me, it's you'/'look at how you're making me feel', is the subtext IMO). Also (to state the obvious) they're hardly encouraging or positive.
No matter how frustrated a pro gets, a deep breath, a biting of the tongue and an 'I'll show you again'/'Try it again' are surely possible responses/teaching methods for most people?

I don't understand why Giovanni would have had to had a go at her like that. Amanda worked really hard and did well on the dance floor and would have done off her own back regardless of which teacher she had. She seems a really intense, hard working person who didn't need much pushing. Why push at an open door?

I can only think she didn't fancy him or flirt with him sufficiently to stroke his ego or he though she was good but not likely to win a popularity contest, so he started to dislike her and have a go in a toxic way.

It just frustrates me that a hard working middle aged woman who was quite good had to go early because of his toxic behaviour. And it frustrates me that a dancer as good as him who came across pretty well would need to behave like that and wreck his own career.

I don't disagree that she probably, for whatever reasons, didn't please his ego. Or that it is frustrating that a promising person had to go. I would say Giovanni hasn't wrecked his career, though; he's moved sideways to the Italian version, and AFAIK his solo dance tours are still going.
But with the slebs who are good, I imagine the pros push them harder than if they were a duffer, because they'll think they might get really good. I don't condone this but I do think there's a mentality in dance that if someone is good you chivvy or bully them into getting even better – a twisted idea that the fittest will survive and thrive under super-pressurised conditions.