Strictly 2025 : Put Your Dancing Shoes Back On! It’s Week Four 18.30 NO SPOILERS

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

Just sorting out tonight’s thread!

The Spoiler Thread is here :

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5405030-strictly-2025-the-spoiler-thread-results-and-couplings?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Thanks

Eine

(and thanks to Ellmau for last week)

I think adding a YouTuber or reality telly person in is TPTB's attempts to get anyone under 25 to watch. Because every year I almost certainly have never heard of them.

Yeah it is to get younger viewers. Which is fine , we can get to know them.

Have we had a dead nan yet?

There was a dead mum, wasn't there, IIRC.

I mean, it's a formula on Strictly now:

• mention of deceased relative

• very sad music starts

• cue Shirley sobbing

• contestant gets high marks

• dance-off avoided for a week

Also bloody tired of Shirley leering over the men and overscoring them.

Not to mention Shirley being vile to some of the women, especially women of colour.

Exactly. Before this I'd only heard of the other George Clark but now GC2 is my joint favourite ❤️.

George said he is now the no1 George Clark Google search 😀

I have mentioned this on another thread. It has left a very bad taste in my mouth, but as a WOC myself, one does get tired of being a perpetual victim, so one shuts up after a while. The climate isn"t great for brown people either.

Balvinder should drag out a hardworking immigrant dad or being bullied at school, but she is likely too dignified.

The nature of celebrity has to change with the times, and I love learning about new people and their industries. I'm a far cry from being 25, but most of my faves have been the unknown, younger celebrities - Molly, HRVY, Saffron, Maisie, Joe Sugg - and my fave this year by a mile is George.

I think bringing in YouTubers is fine. It's really people who've been on Love Island and the like that I personally don't want to see.

Completely agree. And can we add the rehearsal VTs should be just that - rehearsal? We used to see how the pros taught which was fascinating, plus seeing the dance go from clumsy to whatever they manage on Saturday.

I would prefer that too. I can just about put up with how they are now with visits to get "inspiration" from a west end show or a surprise visit to the training room from great auntie Margaret. But I actively hated them when everyone was doing Scooby Doo style hammy acting, ooh I wonder why my dance partners behaving out of character today. OMG, they wore a pair of cursed dancing shoes they just happened to find in the training room and have been taken over by an evil spirit. Lolz.

Agree. The whole programme is becoming a lot more "ITV".

Absolutely! I enjoy them so much more when the celebs have better form and confidence. Week 6 at the earliest for an AT!

Karen and Carlos: fab. Hollywood a go-go. Suited her down to the ground. Lovely costume, hair and make-up too, and Carlos does suit a tail suit. Agree she was undermarked.
Harry and Karen: Karen is fucking fierce. I love her more and more every week. It was a bit dull. He's gone off the boil a bit for me.
Vicky and Kai: excellent. Packed with chores. Good on her.
Stefan and Dianne: OMG Dianne A goddess. Stefan is boring. I honestly wouldn't notice if he wasn't there. I don't get the impression he's loving it either.
Lewis and Katya: K is exquisite and I'm pleased that she's got a good dancer. I agree, lots of muckin' abaaaaaht before getting into hold, and too much out of hold in general,

Jimmy and Lauren: he did seem a bit low on energy. Loved hearing soca on Strictly though. I've been thinking for ages I'd like more variety of music.
George and Alexis: OK, bit boring. I wonder if George has danced before. He's suspiciously natural-seeming if he's a beginner.
La Voix and Aljaz. Didn't get it. I like him more for how shocked and thankful he was at being kept in though. I thought he was very classy.
Alex and Johannes: beautiful rumba. Why the wig though? She has lovely hair of her own. I got Bette Midler vibes. Shirley is an egomaniac. I did feel for her when Anton kept talking over her judging though. So rude. Someone in production needs to have a word with him. He's permanently auditioning to be the new Bruce and it's really really tiresome.
Amber and Nikita: too early for the Argentine Tango even for a capable dancer. She didn't nail the shaping of her body in the lifts. I said the same as Craig; it looked like an AT for a big stage show. Too splashy and showy.
Ellie and Vito: joyous. Love her. I'd have liked to see less 'having fun at your cousin's wedding' and more proper dancing though, because she's very capable. Her spins are always fantastic. I love her confidence/absence of false modesty when Claudia said something about how great she was and she just went (paraphrasing), 'Yeah, I was.' Good for her.
Balvinder and Julian: she was giving it laldy! Stylish and well-acted. Amazing skirt-ography. Undermarked, and a travesty that she should be in the DO. It's not just Shirley who has a problem with WOC; the voting public must too. Or was it more that everyone voted for La Voix, so there was just no one left to vote for Bal, IYSWIM?
Chris and Nadiya: good lifts, nice guy, about three salsa steps. WTF was Shirley on about it was the same quality as Bal? That's just so laughably wrong even to me as a layperson. I adore Nadiya.

Slightly dreading Icons Week. Sorry but in what world are Cheryl Cole or Harry Styles 'icons'? Looking forward to Alex doing Dolly Parton though. Now that IS an icon.

I agree with your rules and would add the following:
The music needs to be suitable for the dance style i.e. proper Paso music rather than pop tunes.
Costumes need to be appropriate for the dance (which means tail suits and arm hankies for ballroom).
The endless theme weeks need to go especially when they result in ridiculous costumes - see above. If they really feel the need to have weeks that change things up they should look to less gimmicky things like a partner change or a version of icons week that is one proper nailed on superstar and everyone dances to a track by that artist (so Queen week or The Beatles week).
It might be time to have the judges give each pair 2 scores - one for technical ability and the second for entertainment value. If there is a tie on the leaderboard then the couple with the higher technical score would be ahead of pair that were less skilled. This would enable the panel to acknowledge and value technical aspects while also recognising that something like Gangnam Style had a (very different) merit.

It might be time to have the judges give each pair 2 scores - one for technical ability and the second for entertainment value. If there is a tie on the leaderboard then the couple with the higher technical score would be ahead of pair that were less skilled. This would enable the panel to acknowledge and value technical aspects while also recognising that something like Gangnam Style had a (very different) merit.
Along these lines, I've often imagined (yes, I don't get out enough) a 'panel' of viewers alongside the judges. Lay people just judging on fun, entertainment, emotion, costume, story etc. They could combine their scores with the judges'.

Stefan has withdrawn apparently? Injury.

Yes, what a shame. I know he wasn't a great dancer, but I like him and Dianne.

Oh no thats a shame. On DS they werecsaying he had vertigo, which was why he was off ill. That isnt something I would imagine you would be able to dance with, or something that can be ' cured' quickly.

On ITT they said it was due to a calf injury.

What a shame for Stefan.

Ah, that’s a shame. He may not have been the best dancer but he was fully in the spirit of all things SCD. I liked him popping up on Scott Mills’ show every week just as an excuse to play “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”!

I liked Stefan so disappointed he’s had to pull out.

I thought it was the Sia song they used? It wasn’t written by Chris Brown was it? It’s a different one to his one I think??