Strictly Come Dancing 2016/ 2017

I think that last week's results show wasn't handled well enough.  Remember that on DWTS Season 17, there were times when voting was glitchy.  Since the voting was inaccurate, no one was eliminated.  That's how it should have been handled here.  There should be 4 couples in the finale, as usual.

One of the things I hope they'll do for Claudia and AJ is let them perform their Showdance anyway.  After all, they were in the Top 4.  If it doesn't happen this season, I hope it happens soon (like maybe a guest performance).

To be fair, there have been two, three and four finalists in the show's past before, so it's not like a three person finale is unheard of (in fact, prior to series ten, there had never been four finalists).

Equally, there is precedent for all semi-finalists to make it through to the final - in series six, due to a combination of a contestant's withdrawal (leaving three semi-finalists instead of the intended four), and a tie on the leader-board, it was mathematically impossible for one of the semi-finalists not to be in the dance-off no matter how many public votes they received. In this case they put all three through and the votes were carried over into the final, but this was... controversial. It did lead to a change in the way that ties work on the leader-board though.

In this case though, online votes for all contestants would have been affected equally, and people could still vote by telephone with no problems. Louise had the same points deficit to make up as Claudia did (as they were tied bottom), and managed to make it through. I'm not sure it merits special consideration, but I can see why others may disagree.

Personally, I thought Claudia was probably the weakest overall contestant remaining, although I did think her quickstep on the night was very good (her rumba, conversely, I thought was pretty bad). I can't really feel too upset about her having left at this juncture because of that, though based on the night's dancing I think an Ore vs. Louise bottom two (with either leaving) would have been preferable - I thought both dances from both Ore and Louise were weak.

Claudia will dance in the final alongside her fellow eliminated contestants. I very much doubt she'll do her showdance (and, considering the BBC knows they've had one fewer contestant since Will's withdrawal in week three, they may not even have scheduled time to fit an extra dance into the show's run time). The only time I can think of anything similar happening in a final was when Jade withdrew from series seven through injury (essentially ending her career as well) and she danced the tango she would have performed.

As an aside I'm struck with how many times I've had to mention withdrawals here - by my count there's only been five celebrities (and, I guess, two professionals) withdraw in fourteen series and 192 couples, but they seem to have a effect on the show when they do!

Oti retweeted Sharna's inspirational message. I think a loud scream was heard in Germany.

Smart strategies from Oti & Joanne on their song selections for the showdances: a passionate song for Danny to counteract the "perfect but robotic" criticism, and a classic & elegant ballroom song for Ore to show his growth & personality. Kevin's choice seems pretty vanilla (will probably be performed as a waltzy contemporary) & it highlights Louise's flat performances. Nevertheless it seems that the British audience loves vanilla as Louise is the only one that has escaped a dance-off even when she was at the bottom of the scoreboard like last week, and, therefore, has a great probability of winning. Let's see if the boys can pull off an upset.

Actually, consensus around the specific group fans I talk with most is that Set Fire to The Rain is the worst of the three showdance songs, that One Moment in Time is pretty bad and that I Got Rhythm is probably the best. It probably balances out though, given (imo) that Oti is the strongest of the remaining choreographers, and Joanne the weakest. Kevin's showdances normally go down fairly well even when they're not particularly impactful, too, so I guess that round could go to any of them!

My feeling, though, is that the showdances aren't as important as the show makes out - recent years' offerings haven't been very good and don't really seem to have impacted upon who won (last year, Jay's was very weak, but there was no stopping that juggernaut). I think the reprisals we know about - Danny's samba, Ore's jive, Louise's AT; all high-scorers - will show a better competition. If they follow the format of the last few series, these will be the last dances they do, too.

Who will win is a tricky question. Louise not having been bottom two doesn't necessarily help - Kevin's had two finalists before reach the final who didn't hit the bottom two in Susanna and Frankie, both of whom lost to people who had been in the dance-off (Abbey and Caroline, respectively). I'd have thought it was between Danny and Louise, except we know from last week's results Danny can't have been higher than third in the public vote. Hard to call, I'd say.

DMD - I'd say the pros' personalities are still a big factor over here. The Cliftons are controversial because of perceived favouritism (Kevin, in particular, getting four contenders - and finalists - in a row), but they've got a big fanbase too. Because of the weekday companion show It Takes Two, the pros are on prime-time television often at least once a day in some capacity (interviews, training footage, the Pro Challenge etc.) for the length of their stay on the main programme and then less frequently for the rest of the run. Some of them have had their own presenting gigs, regularly appear on other UK reality programmes - most recently Gleb was on Celebrity Masterchef - and I'd say that at the very least Anton has a fair amount of name-recognition-value outside of fans of the programme. A fair number of the pros (and past ones) also successfully run their own UK tours - some of them ending in a West End run - and Joanne's about to take the lead role in a tour of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. It's not quite Derek Hough levels, but they do build up some quite big followings, and that has to have some impact on the couples' chances.

Re: Frankie vs. Caroline, I mainly just think Caroline was a bit more interesting to watch, though I will admit to liking Pasha more than I do Kevin, so you might have a point! My winner that year, though, would have been Pixie. 

This year, my order of preference is Danny, then Louise, then Ore - and in fact there are a few contestants I'd have rather seen in the final than Ore!

Whoops - actually more recently than Gleb on Masterchef, Ola Jordan competed in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! this year.

Louise's popularity had her defeat Danny Mac but was not enough to overcome the 3 point deficit with Ore. So the final mirrored the semis . I'm sad for Oti & Danny but at least content that Ore won over Louise.

Kevin Clifton reminds me of Tony Dovolani: a brilliant ballroom dancer & teacher that lacks the additional spark of creativity to take him over the top. That showdance was a run of the mill contemporary.

Ore was aided by his consistency today (even though poor camera work did not allow us to see if there was proper synchronization in some segments of his dances). I preferred his American Smooth to his showdance. I even preferred Claudia's quickstep to Ore's showdance. But it was not bad.

Hopefully Danny Mac will get more acting offers after this run & Oti will get more chances to share her creativity with larger audiences (spring season in the US & fall back in Strictly?).

You'd still have Motsi in Germany DMD and the Mabuse family would be known in more markets, opening more opportunities for them.

[ltr]Strictly Come Dancing stars, Kristina Rihanoff and Tristan MacManus, present an evening of breathtaking dance routines for one night only![/ltr]

[ltr]With amazing Ballroom and Latin routines such as the Waltz, the Paso Doble, the Samba and
favourites the Charleston and the Argentine Tango, the evening will also feature an amazing professional singer/host.

Kristina appeared on the BBC hit show for eight years, with her partners including Jason Donovan,
Ben Cohen, Daniel O’Donnell, John Sergeant and Simon Webbe - with whom she made the final.
Tristan starred in two series of the BBC show, with the singer Jamelia and also Mrs Brown’s Boys
star Jennifer Gibney. He has also appeared on five seasons of the American equivalent, Dancing
With The Stars, partnering Pamela Anderson and Gladys Knight, to name a few.

Meet Kristina and Tristan after the show with one of our VIP tickets, only 40 available![/ltr]






[ltr][/ltr]

Would I love to see this!