Strictly Come Dancing

It's not a dance competition. It's a Celebrity reality tv show.

Who is voting for Ed?

I think 'Strictly Come' might raise an eyebrow or two.

Yes, but you probably have a strong interest in dance. This is a mass entertainment show, watched by millions of the general public, and the details of the dancing just wash over the vast majority of us. We watch the reality aspect of the celebrities' progress and the suspense of their fate.

The comedy one is always supported to stay in the competition waaaaay beyond the time when their dancing ability would normally see them leave. The producers do this by giving ever more crowd-pleasing funny/ridiculous dances and stunts to perform. They stay in the competition as much better dancers leave. As the final approaches the comedy one will be kyboshed by the producers who will give them a more serious dance which shows up all their many failings. The judges who previously loved them will now turn and the comedy one will be eliminated. This then leaves the final for "the chosen" i.e the ones who can actually dance. 

No point in being annoyed about it, It happens every year and is intrinsic to the shows success. It's not really a competition because the outcomes are manipulated. And also not all of the celebs start from the same baseline, e.g. Danny. It's also no coincidence that theyre not referred to as the "contestants" but as the "cast". I'm sure Ed knows this and is having a great time performing until his time comes. It won't be doing his book sales any harm and given that he is effectively unemployed since the election he'll do well out of the exposure. Zero to Hero. 

Yeah to be fair to Ed he's making an effort (unlike Ann Widdecombe) and mainly getting better (unlike Judy Murray) - I was actually surprised even with that music his salsa wasn't completely unrecognisable. And Rinder though I am not a fan didn't really need the comedy aspects he was lumbered with early on as seen over the last few weeks though he was overmarked on Saturday for what was a pretty run of the mill Foxtrot.

That said if Greg doesn't go this Saturday I would expect either Ed or Rinder to go as it becomes harder for all of them to avoid the dance off with less dancers in general.

I don't doubt Ed is trying to improve but he isn't really. His Paso was his worst dance and that came weeks after week 1. He's better with some stuff than others but honestly he's just bad. Nothing against him as a person and I think he's doing everything he can with the experience.

Rinder on the other hand came out with that Cha Cha week one (which still to me is far funnier than any of Ed's offerings) and completely pulled it off, yet he can do a beautiful and serious quickstep or foxtrot too.

The thing for me is I love to rewatch my favourite dances and I know Ed isn't capable of pulling one off that I would want to rewatch. I didn't mind at first, but now that he's staying over people that have pulled great dances off (Laura's Waltz and Daisy's Viennese Waltz), it starts to get a bit irritating, because I just wonder what potentially great dances I'm missing out on. The same goes for Greg to be fair. It's not about who will win for me, it's about how many great dances I can get out of one season.

I know we all find different things entertaining and appealing, I'm just surprised more people aren't starting to find Ed a bit one note now.

Strictly's ratings are fine whatever happens.

Yes, it's a Strictly Formatted Saturday Night Entertainment Show. It is not a "dance competition". I am amazed that with all the press coverage and social media attention these shows get - X Factor etc. that folk still take it so seriously. You just have to enjoy it for what it is. The "celebs" fit into neat folders - ex sport person, ex soap star, BBC announcer/newsreader/presenter, comedian etc. They are then given dances/costumes/routines to either suit their ability or not, then mix with high production values, acerbic/funny/knowledgeable judges and you have 10 million viewers. The original dance show competition "Come Dancing" died a death years ago.


The phone vote cannot be fixed but the judges marks can influence the final result with over or under marking and most importantly the routine/costume/music/dance choice and order of dancing has a huge impact on the public vote.

I do get where you're coming from Snutte- and in some years I've 100% agreed with you. I'm just really enjoying Balls/Rinder this year for 2 reasons- firstly I'm a bit tired of the amount of already trained dancers we get now, which while making for brilliant dances also makes for a less interesting competition for me- I much prefer to see someone improve. Secondly while the 'comedy' person has previously been laughed 'at' and been all round useless, I think Balls (and Rinder who IMO is more of a 'middling' one or would have been a few years back) are both genuinely learning to dance, and that for me 'back in the day' used to be a joy of strictly.

But I do understand wanting to see 'good' dance. I'm a dance lover (I see far too many Strictly stars on tour as well as various ballet and contemporary performances) so I get where you're coming from, I just personally want something different from Strictly.

All that said, a Daily Fail article that says Balls is the 'Trump of Strictly' is a fairly gross comparison.

www.tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/strictly-come-dancing/288341-strictly-come-dancing-2016-spoilers-blackpool-songs-dances-revealed.html

This week's song choices.

Danny will nail he Charlestown.

Wish they gave Ore a quickstep, he'd be good at that.

Why oh why have they given Ed ANOTHER silly song and fast dance?! He's only done one song that was slow and boring (Waltz in week one) so I think producers secretly want to keep him in and thus give him silly songs so he's "entertaining"

I do hope Ed and Greg are in the dance off this week, they are the weakest dancers. If Ore is in the dance off again over Ed, I'll be very annoyed..