As most of you know I’m a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing. I haven’t been watching it since the beginning but damn near close enough. However, the changes over the last couple of years are starting to test my loyalty. Last year, when they replaced Arlene Phillips resident dance expert, with Alesha Dixon, I was very vocal about my unhappiness with this decision.
This is not a personal attack against Alesha, she seems like a lovely woman and probably learned a lot when she participated in the show in 2007. However, I still don’t think comments like ‘great outfit’, ‘your bum looks great in those trousers’ or ‘the ladies are loving you tonight’ really add to the show. These quotes were all taken from tonight’s show.
Anyhow, I’ve moved on from that. However, this year the removal of the ‘Dance Off’ doesn’t anger me but in fact terrifies me. I’m not going to explain how SCD works as I’m assuming that if you’re still reading this you must be a fan, otherwise you would have buggered off by now. We’ve all seen it happen year after year, the British Public voting for the underdog or just to goad the judges, mostly Craig. A prime example of this was John Sergeant. Goodness knows how far he would have gotten if he didn’t make the decision to walk.
So, in reality, there is nothing stopping the likes of Ann Widdecombe from getting to the final. I really hope the British public come to their senses and remember that underneath all the glitz and glamour that it is a dance competition. I do appreciate it’s for entertainment, but I don’t think it’s really fair to those that are working really hard and delivering excellent dances. This is why the judge’s involvement is imperative as they used to have the opportunity to step in and save the better dancer if need be.
In addition, without the Dance Off the Sunday night result show is a complete waste of time. It’s just filler, clips of the show the night before, with a couple of show dances thrown in, possibly a celebrity guest and then the lights go out. If the voting closes shortly after the show on Saturday night why can’t they have the results on the same night?
I really hope I’m wrong about this and that the new format of the programme adds to our enjoyment but I can’t help feeling that the BBC has made a grave error.