Strictly 2024 launch show
Sep. 18th, 2024 08:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI had trepidation about this, and in fact chose to watch live sport and catch up on it (which meant I could fastforward and watched it in two parts.)
No mention of The Unpleasantness, by which I mean the allegations of bullying, kicking and spitting etc. We started off with the Venga Boys and some VT of the professional dancers in a bus, driven by Aljiaz to remind us HE’S BACK and basically filling Anton’s old shoes, with Claudia returning to the running loving Dave Arch gag, before they moved to the studio to hi-NRG Europop (hi, Whigfield) which predated 20 years ago. We’d be reminded that this was the show’s twentieth year, and that Tess, Anton and Craig had been around for all of them.
With his beard, Craig looked oddly like David Mitchell. Tess looked like she’d been triple dipped in fake tan (hard to tell with Claudia, because less skin was visible) and Motsi’s choice of outfit was questionable when it came to the stomach area.
Lots of talk of their mums and children from the new contestants, and the VTs were all about where they were from (Llansteffan castle, where I occasionally clambered about as a child, looked beautiful) although they met their pros in groups, kinda. I suppose the celeb I was most curious about who they’d pair up with was Chris, who is blind. Dianne seems like a good choice, I thought they had to have a native English speaker. I decided to project a whole storyline about how Nancy is furious that Jamie (who was very good AND HER PARTNER in the Christmas show) has been paired with Michelle. Yes, Michelle has a partner. They seemed a bit quiet, but they were in the same group as Wynne and Chris. Nancy has been partnered with Shayne, who seems to think he can win.
No new pros, and the show centred a pro routine around Amy, which is fair enough (remind them of your best news story.) Photos of this dance made the front pages the next day, so the producers will count that as a win.
Second group and said Amy got JB from JLS (do I expect him to be as good as Aston? No. But I’ve subsequently been reminded that he won a Christmas special once.) Johannes and Montell (a former Olympian) looked great together, but of course, he’s so tall, his female partners tend to be tall and look like they could do elegant ballroom.
We then had the return of last year’s winners, and it was great to see a reprise of Ellie and Vito’s paso. All the chat around it was confusing – are they still together or not? – but reminded me of Vito’s rambles. I was sure that Vito wouldn’t get a ringer, and indeed, he got paired with Sarah. My main thought was that the countdown to a Miranda Hart appearance starts now, but I’ve subsequently learned she’s got West End experience, so is he going to end up in three finals in a row? Gorka is considered fluent enough to handle Glaswegian these days. NEIL got Toyah and won baby wars round 1 versus Aljiaz, by the power of photography.
Anne-Marie and Clean Bandit performed Cry Baby (oversized jackets themed to be a sartorial theme), with Carlos, Lauren, Kai and Jovita dancing, reminding me that the first three had no partners. And would not get any, as it turned out. I’m especially surprised re Lauren and Kai, although there are fewer female celebs this year, and the rumour is that that’s because of the Unpleasantness. (And death and rape threats against former contestants and their families are NOT ON.) As Tom Dean is very tall, he got Nadiya (on the one hand, athlete, so his attitude will be fine, but on the other, a swimmer, and they haven’t done particularly well.) Nadiya seemed to have learned punning since the last time she had a partner.
The group routine suggested that Dianne’s method for partnering Chris would be to push him around into place. Jamie still looks like the most capable male celeb, although Shayne and JB have potential. They gave Tasha quite a lot to do, (I subsequently learned that she has had a lot of dance background AND IS GIO’S EX) but I suppose they felt they had to give Aljiaz someone good. Some celebs clearly are used to performing, while others aren’t. Wynne, Chris and Sarah are Big Personalities, others seemed genuinely terrified, sometimes saying awkward things because of it. (Hi, Paul.) There were some references to 10s as if the drive to get them might not lead to bad behaviour, so there were awkward bits because of The Unpleasantness. As always, I only knew who about half of the celebs were.
No mention of The Unpleasantness, by which I mean the allegations of bullying, kicking and spitting etc. We started off with the Venga Boys and some VT of the professional dancers in a bus, driven by Aljiaz to remind us HE’S BACK and basically filling Anton’s old shoes, with Claudia returning to the running loving Dave Arch gag, before they moved to the studio to hi-NRG Europop (hi, Whigfield) which predated 20 years ago. We’d be reminded that this was the show’s twentieth year, and that Tess, Anton and Craig had been around for all of them.
With his beard, Craig looked oddly like David Mitchell. Tess looked like she’d been triple dipped in fake tan (hard to tell with Claudia, because less skin was visible) and Motsi’s choice of outfit was questionable when it came to the stomach area.
Lots of talk of their mums and children from the new contestants, and the VTs were all about where they were from (Llansteffan castle, where I occasionally clambered about as a child, looked beautiful) although they met their pros in groups, kinda. I suppose the celeb I was most curious about who they’d pair up with was Chris, who is blind. Dianne seems like a good choice, I thought they had to have a native English speaker. I decided to project a whole storyline about how Nancy is furious that Jamie (who was very good AND HER PARTNER in the Christmas show) has been paired with Michelle. Yes, Michelle has a partner. They seemed a bit quiet, but they were in the same group as Wynne and Chris. Nancy has been partnered with Shayne, who seems to think he can win.
No new pros, and the show centred a pro routine around Amy, which is fair enough (remind them of your best news story.) Photos of this dance made the front pages the next day, so the producers will count that as a win.
Second group and said Amy got JB from JLS (do I expect him to be as good as Aston? No. But I’ve subsequently been reminded that he won a Christmas special once.) Johannes and Montell (a former Olympian) looked great together, but of course, he’s so tall, his female partners tend to be tall and look like they could do elegant ballroom.
We then had the return of last year’s winners, and it was great to see a reprise of Ellie and Vito’s paso. All the chat around it was confusing – are they still together or not? – but reminded me of Vito’s rambles. I was sure that Vito wouldn’t get a ringer, and indeed, he got paired with Sarah. My main thought was that the countdown to a Miranda Hart appearance starts now, but I’ve subsequently learned she’s got West End experience, so is he going to end up in three finals in a row? Gorka is considered fluent enough to handle Glaswegian these days. NEIL got Toyah and won baby wars round 1 versus Aljiaz, by the power of photography.
Anne-Marie and Clean Bandit performed Cry Baby (oversized jackets themed to be a sartorial theme), with Carlos, Lauren, Kai and Jovita dancing, reminding me that the first three had no partners. And would not get any, as it turned out. I’m especially surprised re Lauren and Kai, although there are fewer female celebs this year, and the rumour is that that’s because of the Unpleasantness. (And death and rape threats against former contestants and their families are NOT ON.) As Tom Dean is very tall, he got Nadiya (on the one hand, athlete, so his attitude will be fine, but on the other, a swimmer, and they haven’t done particularly well.) Nadiya seemed to have learned punning since the last time she had a partner.
The group routine suggested that Dianne’s method for partnering Chris would be to push him around into place. Jamie still looks like the most capable male celeb, although Shayne and JB have potential. They gave Tasha quite a lot to do, (I subsequently learned that she has had a lot of dance background AND IS GIO’S EX) but I suppose they felt they had to give Aljiaz someone good. Some celebs clearly are used to performing, while others aren’t. Wynne, Chris and Sarah are Big Personalities, others seemed genuinely terrified, sometimes saying awkward things because of it. (Hi, Paul.) There were some references to 10s as if the drive to get them might not lead to bad behaviour, so there were awkward bits because of The Unpleasantness. As always, I only knew who about half of the celebs were.
