THE NEW STRICTLY THREAD!

[BlackPussyCat]

Here we go...

if only more men understood the transformative power of dance...

Totally agree about Brian when he dances...... (this is why I know Ds1 will thank me for sending him to dance lessons when he's older ). Do Brian and Kristina dance professionally outside of the show or are they just paired for strictly? They have a really great chemistry.

Lisa's false modesty irritates me. She should be a good dancer - she attended stage school and used to bang on about her dancing background on an early series of Britain's Next Top Model.

am with you there PurleyQueen

On ITT last night they showed that bit again about Arlene calling Rachel? Heather? a "damp squid". It's squib, woman, a squib! it's a damp firework that doesn't go off, otherwise it doesn't make sense!

Drives me mad, anyway, sorry - crawls off to pedants corner

Yes a squid IS damp!

LOL @ damp squid!!
The other day on ITT they were doing the 'Ask Len' bit and one of the questions was about whether he thought up comments in advance. He was quite disparaging (sp) of the idea ... but I thought 'well, you might not but I bet Arlene someone does'

Oh like he made up that rugby analogy for Austin on the spot on Saturday night!

You can just see the rehearsed comments from a mile away - and their favourites ...

So is John for the fall this week or will Heathers luck run out, see what I did there?

Loving Austin, Jodie, was a bit dissapointed with Rachels jive, does she really TRY? Doesn't look like her hearts in it, or is it me?

As for Brian, corrrrrrrrrrrrr on the dance floor but more, ahhhhhhhhhhh on the couch.

Yes, I wonder what it is about Rachel. In the jive I'm sure she suffered from Louisa comparisons, but she really doesn't seem to give off the aura of having 'got' what's needed. She doesn't seem to love or enjoy it, I think I want to say, not like Austin or even John!

For Rachel, it's just the latest career-reviving move.

I think people are a bit harsh about Rachel. I'm no Rachel Stevens fan but I think she's done a few really good dances. I can see what Len meant about it being "competent" and her being pretty and Vincent being pretty etc (actually, totally disagree about Vincent being pretty!) when they did the waltz, but I also think she's not given enough credit for pulling off a few near flawless performances. She might lack a bit of excitement but she's still pretty darned good. And she's less irritating than Lisa.

Has anyone else noticed how posh she sounds compared to her brothers (who they sometimes interview on the Sunday show)? Elocution lessons? Or is it just a stage school thing?

I agree Rosa, I've never had much time for Rachel and have always thought her rather vacuous but she's grown on me during Strictly - she just seems like a nice girl. And you're right, most of her dances have been good to great, which is why I was so disappointed with her jive.

She is definitely less irritating than Lisa All that faux modesty and "eek, I just hope we get through" wide eyed schtick...bleurgh.

So, cyteen, I guess I'm gonna have to return this membership to the Lisa Snowdon fan club that I got you for Christmas

I agree that Rachel is a good dancer. I think that she suffers by not being 'exciting'.
I also think that the judges, to a certain extent, have an idea of how they expect people to perform and mark accordingly. So, if they think that Rachel is going to blow their socks off, and then she does a good, but not outstanding, dance, they mark her a little lower than if they'd thought she'd struggle. Does that make sense?? I bet they'd dispute that but it could well be sub-conscious ...

I totally agree cyteen and tigerschick. I do think there's an element of the judges having high expectations of some people and then marking them harshly if they don't knock their socks off. Rachel S hasn't messed up once has she? I agree she's not as brilliant as someone like Austin but she's really very good. I understand that she could be seen as a bit boring though.
I never understood why she was such a lads' mag hottie. She just seems so nice and normal. Real girl next door. Maybe that's what blokes find sexy deep down!

Rachel Stevens ... Girl next door or not so girl next door!!
But I agree that she seems so nice and that's refreshing next to others like Lisa and Tom ...

Do you think Hayley will be kept on for next series. I wasn't that impressed with her own dancing (well in comparison with the likes of Erin and Camilla) and the judges seemed a bit about her choreography.

I too want to like Rachel, and COMPLETELY agree that she is not sickly sweet like Lisa tries to be. Maybe she is suffering a bit of judge expectation, but then I think they mark Jodie harshly too, especially on her Waltz it was lovely.

As for Hayley, hmmm not sure really. I think she had to pull a lot out of the bag of spares with Mark Foster, she did the best she could I think with his limitations, but I suppose only time will tell on the recall front. She is partnering Brendan who has fell out publically (sp) with Camilla and Karen so who else would have him?

Interesting point about Hayley ... a quick look at the WIki page shows that 7 prof dancers only did one serise (not counting the ones who are new this time 'round). I wonder why they didn't come back..?

In that dodgy interview with Nicole Cutler, it says that the reason she wasn't asked back was because they couldn't find her a partner ... now, I don't know about you, but that suggests to me that the slebs know (and have some say in) who their prof partner is going to be ... which would make the whole thing with LS says "I hope I don't get Brendan ..." and then BC walking in a bit of a joke!!
But, like I say, it's not the most reliable article ...

Tigs, I think you are right about the slebs know who they are getting. I read the Nicole Cutler rant interview and had mixed feelings about it. I think it was the fact that they couldnt find her a prof partner but then she did dance with Matt before maybe he wanted to move on too and as he won last year maybe he got first dibs?

Part of me wants to start an Anton to replace Bruce when he goes campaign, but firstly I would LOVE to sack Tess and bring in Alesha.

Maybe I am just being a billysitch. Tis me hormones.

I liked the way Adrian Chiles was sitting about 10ft away from Christine on the sofa on ITT last night. It was soooo obvious (they were rumoured to be having an affair although there is denial in all camps).

Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that ... I just assumed that the profs who have a 'regular' partner (Anton + Erin, Vincent + Flavia etc) danced together and the ones that don't (Brendan, Karen etc) get paired off by the producers ... but that could be a load of tosh
I wouldn't mind betting that some of the prof dancers, especially the ones that didn't do well, decided that it wasn't good for their careers to be apparently dancing poorly on a tv show. So they chose not to coem back - not saying that Nicole Cutler did this but I bet some of the others did.

Where's this Nicole Cutler rant? I've missed that. I think Nicole and Matthew make an odd couple.