Strictly 2025 : Post Series Debrief And Christmas Special

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

In case anyone wants to keep chatting

I admired Amber for stepping in with hours notice and losing her break between two massive MT roles. I do wonder if the legally blonde production team encouraged her to take it to promote their tour as all other cast announcements have been held whilst she has been on Strictly.
I do think Kaz has had the biggest journey both dance and personally wise - and it’s the journey we all love. So I expected her to win.
Of everything this series I love who they have embraced Diane and really bigged up that pregnant performers can continue to perform. All these performers are self employed so the ability to continue to perform whilst pregnant and to normalise this is really important for them.

I didn't watch it live or vote as I have got sick of the filler, but glad Karen won. And very glad a woman won after the sausage fest of the last two years!

Also super glad Carlos got his due after being dropped last year. His choreo for Karen really showcased her, unlike Alexis's choreo.

I thought Karen deserved to win. I enjoyed all her dances last night. I didn't like George's showdance at all

That is always a bit of a scrum tbh it probably wasn't intentional.

I thought they were unintentionally hilarious!

Glad they can all put their feet up for Christmas now and Dianne get on a plane to see her parents. Nearly here 21st December!😬

I agree with PP that Karen was a good “strong” dancer but never elegant . George was a better all rounder in that respect. I wish the judges choice was a dance that actually challenged each couple, something they hadn’t scored well with first time round, or something that just didn’t suit them. That would be a far better measure of improvement in my view.

Me too @ilovesooty I think katyas choreography is astonishing and I know Lewis had dance experience but I loved watching him.

Karen was a good winner though

so glad Karen won. loved her AT so much.
I thought Amber was lovely with what she said and she managed to look really happy when Karen won.

I did love Karens AT it could have been a pro dance it was so slick.

I am hoping Carlos is ok he seemed very emotional and hard on himself last night,

I know what you mean but I really liked the fact that she wasn’t doing “sexy” or “pretty” or any of the stereotypical female attributes.

I liked that too. She was intense and " hard" but I enjoyed that. It fit with her personality. Also such a great role model for young women.

I don’t follow closely enough so I don’t know what the Carlos emotional thing was about? Can somebody explain please?

He basically meant Karen had softened his approach and made him a better choreographer and person as he was intense in previous but he was getting really worked up about it
i just think he was overwhelmed and maybe tired but I was a bit concerned he wasn't OK.

I think that's great - apart from that didn't translate as well in terms of skilful ballroom dancing (doesn't need to be 'elegant' or traditionally feminine, just good/wow factor!) and I feel that a winner should be very strong at both Latin and Ballroom. Not necessarily equally strong but both high level. Her jive was great - I need to re-watch when she did it episode 1 compared to last night to see how far she's come.

Thank you. He did seem genuinely distraught. Not the usual flapping of hands type emotions.

We have had winners who were good at neither. I won't say which for fear of being flamed. It's a popularity contest after all.

I wanted Lewis to win because he was the best dancer, and I don't care about ringers. But obviously other people do.

That was all rather lacklustre. I'm pleased Karen won from the 3 left.
As they were 1 down (3 person final) I would have liked a bit more Tess and Claude.

I wonder if it has being playing in his mind he did mention it on bbc2 he felt a bit guilty for not "connecting" properly with previous partners although he did say he got on well with Molly.

To be fair to Carlos, he said competition dancing was all about him. It’s not a team sport. He recognised the value of team working via Karen and I think that’s a valid comment. He feels he’s learnt too.

Karen and many others barely get asked to do slow dances now. Ballroom really means Latin and fast. They also know some contestants will struggle with some dances and others get lots thst suit them. Amber was a late replacement so fair enough she was there really. The judges like dancers to dance separately from the pros but when Lewis did it, they didn’t. It’s hugely inconsistent. I’m sick of Anton - what a “look at me” performance every week! Awful. New presenters will be interesting.

I’m delighted for Karen who I think is a thoroughly nice person and she did some brilliant dances but I’m not sure she prove she could do the classic ballroom dances too -certainly not memorably

George did very well for a total novice and was a better all rounder. Also a thoroughly nice bloke.
interesting that his supposedly massive social media following wasn’t quite enough in the end

overall though the final was disappointing especially amber’s showdance which was just a series of lifts not dancing at all. And she could have done something absolutely brilliant.

the whole series has been a bit meh this year tbh. The highlight for me was Lewis’ Halloween dance.

feel sad for Tess but I’m sure it’s the right decision for her. The whole show could do with a bit of a revamp/rethink for next year so is probaby good timing

A non -sequitor perhaps? but how do we know that Karen and George are nice? 😐 All we know is what we see on camera, which is carefully manicured. For all we know, Ross King had a heart of gold.

@OhDear111 yes I think you are right they do have to shift from professional competing and you see that with other dancers Nakitta for example has settled in, he was intense to start with, Carlos shift seems to have overwhelmed him.

@Holluschickie you can, of course, only judge by what you see on the screen, which may, or may not, be curated for the public.

George came across as a thoroughly nice young man, somewhat bewildered by where he found himself. It seemed genuine enough. I don’t think he realised the impact it would have on him and he really upped his game in the latter stages.

I believe Karen was very gracious to everyone and thanked everyone regularly.

If it relied on the best dancer, that was Lewis for me.
If it was who has made most progress from being an absolute beginner, then it would be George.
If it was who has had the most emotional journey, then Karen and Carlos.

I thought George was better than Karen in the final, where I thought all her dances were too similar.

But happy to see a woman complete and win the whole final in trousers and flat shoes.