Yes, Strictly Come Dancing has come and gone leaving a sequinned storm in its wake! To start with, I am going to go off topic but I have just noticed that when Strictly Come Dancing is abbreviated to SCD, it comes close to sounding like a sexually transmitted disease and the way some people reacted to it this year, it is almost comparable - first pleasure, then pain, accusations, disgust and diseased comments! Now, I am not saying that everyone reacted in this way but there was quite a sizeable part of the Strictly population that were apoplectic at the final result.
When Strictly 2016 started in September, it was with great anticipation that my younger daughter and I sat ourselves down to watch. Something we have been doing quite religiously from the first season when Natasha and Brendon won. Only then, Rebecca would dance behind the sofa, for which I am grateful; it would've been distracting if she'd chosen to dance in front of the sofa. A couple of years later, she stopped dancing (having achieved perfection) and joined me on the sofa and together we have loved every single minute of our Strictly 'journey'!
The good thing about SCD (hee hee) is that I actually recognise some of the 'celebrities' unlike some other reality shows. This year was no exception. I thought Naga would be good but she turned out to be nada. If you think that is harsh, I was being kind and resisted playing around with her surname 'Munchetty'! I confess to judging poor Ed Balls. I thought he was going to be the token 'laugh' factor. One of those irritating 'can't dance, won't dance' people who delude themselves that they are entertaining us when most of the time they are irritating the hell out of most of us, Ann W., John Sargeant, et al. Some viewers vote them through and everyone it appears has a good laugh until good dancers start getting voted out. Then those same people, along with the silent audience who didn't find them entertaining in the first place, start hissing with disapproval and they then thankfully get voted out.
Ed Balls turned out to be quite a revelation. Perhaps because the BBC haven't yet started same gender couples, he wasn't given Anton as a dance partner. He got Katya who actually gave him proper routines which he usually accomplished with no mistakes. He is single handedly responsible for Gangnam Style receiving a revival on all dance floors this Christmas. I dread to think of the dislocated shoulders and fractured spines that might result from drunken attempts at jumping on partners' necks and riding them! However that is not my favourite dance routine performed by Ed Balls. 'Love potion no.9' wins hands down. Every time he swung his hips to 'ooh' and 'aah', Rebecca and I howled with laughter and at one point we both fell off the sofa clutching our sides! Who knew Ed Balls would provide so much entertainment and be camper than a Pantomime Dame at Christmas.
Fast forward to the semi finals. It appeared, from all the comments on social media, that Danny and Claudia were set to sail through to the finals.Shock horror, they were in the dance off and poor Claudia had to leave." Unbelievable!" "Fix!" were some of the more polite reactions. The outrage was palpable and comments, particularly against Ore grew quite venomous. I have to confess I was surprised, particularly that Louise got voted by the public to go through to the finals. I thought she was by far the least accomplished dancer that evening and was in the bottom two despite Bruno's '10' for her Samba. Contender for one of those Specsavers' advertisements if you ask me. I definitely felt for Claudia. In my opinion, she was subjected to age discrimination both with the choice of music she was given most of the time and from the judges, particularly Darcey. Claudia's quick step (to an old classic) was brilliant yet she only got two 10s (from Len and Bruno). It appeared that Darcey was happy to award 10s to some contestants despite the odd mistake but for some reason she could not bring herself to pick up that 10 paddle for Claudia. I no longer call her Yah Yah Darcey. After this year, I think Farcey Darcey suits her better.
Leaving all the fuss, accusations and vitriolic comments on social media aside, a week later, we sat ourselves in front of the TV with much anticipation to watch the finals. Personally, after Danny and Oti performed their Samba to Magalenha, I would have been quite happy if they were awarded the glitter ball there and then! But back to the finals, Ore and Joanne performed all their dances amazingly well. Their show dance was brilliant! Unfortunately, Danny and Oti's quickstep wasn't perfect, which is a shame. Their show dance, in content, was the exact opposite to Ore and Joanne's but equally brilliant, as was their Samba; repeated with as much perfection as the first time. Louise's 'What a Feeling' cha cha cha had a few wobbly moments that apparently none of the judges noticed. Perhaps they are all due a visit to Specsavers! What can I say about her show dance except that it moved poor Bruno to tears. Perhaps it was the realisation that his favourite wasn't on par with the others. Or perhaps he did pay a visit to the aforementioned opticians and realised that he had been over marking her all along. Not that I have any thing against Louise. However, her celebrity supporters on the BBC claiming that everyone loved her (speak for yourselves luvvies) and that she was going to win, didn't help her case.
You may wonder from my comments (I flatter myself that you care) who my favourite contestant was this year. Well, for the first time I had no favourite. First it was Danny. I know he is supposed to be a trained dancer but the non trained competitors, I am sure, are aware of this after all these years. It is not a level playing field, or dancing floor in this case, so please stop bleating on about people being trained. As long as they improve I don't let it spoil my enjoyment, if I did I would miss that fabulous Samba. Then Ore started improving - his jive was amazing, so he became my favourite. Then Claudia with her Argentine Tango became my favourite, particularly after Craig commented on her, to paraphrase, 'studied landing on the floor'. A studied attempt to not award her a 10 in my opinion.
Another Strictly season has come and gone. On the night and in my opinion, Ore deserved to win. Danny Mac, who I had not heard of before, will have benefited enormously and Louise will carry on smiling! Before you know it, nine months will pass and it will all start again!
PS Ore appeared on the BBC Breakfast show and mentioned that the contestants got on so well that his partner Joanne would admonish him for being too friendly with the competition. Now we know why he burst into tears sporadically... he wasn't allowed to play with his friends! Dee dums.
Amazing breakdown! I don't think I can be anymore hyped for the series to come back!