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Pamela Stephenson's personal analysis
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Hhhhmmm, I'm torn. She makes many valid points, but I think she scores an own goal too. Being TOO open about the thrills of dancing with her partner made me go eeeewwwwwww, and I don't think that should've been the response I had.
But with all her analysis, it would've been useful to her cause if she'd added in the suggestion (felt by many) that she was given generously high scores.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/dec/21/pamela-stephenson-connolly-oldie-power
What do you think?
But with all her analysis, it would've been useful to her cause if she'd added in the suggestion (felt by many) that she was given generously high scores.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/dec/21/pamela-stephenson-connolly-oldie-power
What do you think?
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Comments
The "overmarked" label is always used by people who had other favourites or who just didn't like the person in question. It's certainly not a fact that she was overmarked, it is just an opinion.
He alos didnt see what a lot of people saw . I wonder why ?
As for her article . :eek:
What I will never fail to be annoyed by is when you can't express an opinion about dancng without someone saying oh you just hate them/are jealous/feel threatened.
Pamela has never achieved technical perfection, but then again, no dance on Strictly has ever been perfect in that sense - you could pick holes in every single one of them. Pamela was good technically and she was easily the best performer.
I'm pretty confident that my use of the word "suggestion", means that I'm not saying over marking was factual.
Pamela writes that she believes she and James made it to the final "largely on merit", so perhaps that's what she meant. Maybe she was referring to personality...Billy being shoe horned into VT's, etc. By the way, I'm a huge Billy Connolly fan, have read her book on him, watched her TV shows, so I don't have an agenda to knock her.
But I started a thread because the article surprised me. I am happy to cheer for the older person: her physicality was stunning and inspiring. And if she got her jollies....maybe I'm proving her point. Maybe inspiring an "eewwww" has led me to ask why that's my reaction.
Please can we keep Lisa Snowdon out of it?! :eek:
Some comparisons have been attempted previously and they've all fallen flat. Lisa was placed in the bottom two by the public three times. Pamela never was. Lisa was overmarked in pretty much every single dance she did, especially her latin. Some might say Pamela was overmarked - but she also had some pretty tough scoring for her jive and cha cha cha.
Was Pamela's age over-referenced? Almost certainly. But every contestant was 'tagged' in some way or another. Like every other reality show and every drama, SCD relies on character types. So it's hardly a big deal. And sorry, I sure as hell hope I can be as mobile as she is when I hit 61.
I can't really see anything outrageous in that Guardian article. She's candid about finding dancing with James a bit of a turn-on. So what? What exactly is wrong with that? I'm sure a large proportion of SCD's older female audience would have been just the same, even though many of them would not have admitted to those feelings. Both James and Ola and Pamela and Billy are obviously secure in their respective marriages, nothing happened ... so no big deal, surely?
Or do some people just struggle with the notion of someone in their sixties having desires or urges?
I think its because of the continuing references to how she would like to have a sexual relationship to James. As another poster stated if that had been Paul Daniels writing about Ola in that way he would have been accused of being pervy and seedy.
And I think the same ,Pamela IMO has been far too suggestive and if Paul D , Or Peter S had made the same inuendos and references to Ola or Erin people would be up in arms .And rightly so . I find Pamelas articles seedy and very off putting
Again, as someone who goes to a dance class where there is more than one beautiful dancer who's at the 60 mark, I've never seen Pamela's age as something that should be a factor in her scoring and so maybe that's why I was less impressed than some others - because I was focusing on her dancing, not her birth certificate.
There were a lot of dances that Scott simply couldn't do. His jive was very good, but lacked finesse for me - arms and various other touches. it was all about a few powerful kicks and flicks. Other than his jive, Scott wasn't very remarkable. The top 4 could all do Ballroom well. I think Pam was much more consistent.
I don't think it's patronising to say that she did well for her age. 30 years ago, I think she would have been a fabulous dancer. As it was, she was still one of the best dancers and that is an achievement.
Pam did overact at times, but I think it worked for her. The Charleston and QS were a tad overacted, but it worked in the context of those dances. Some of her other dances like her Paso and Waltz were very good in terms of acting. It's very easy to overdo the Paso face, as Tom Chambers, Chris Hollins and others have done.
I think Scott did perform quite well, at least in the beginning. Matt's face always looked strained. Kara sort of smiled during her Rumba, which put me off a bit. I think she was just nervous, but she tended to do that quite a bit.
Sorry. I'm a bit defensive, as people say that she was overmarked a lot on here. They often say it because they don't like her.
But then this is more a "show" than a competition.
There should be two marks given as in many competitions in different disciplines.
"Contents of programme."
"Manner of presentation."
With the present system, a faultless Hokey-cokey could score higher than a complicated American smooth with at one point "a toe off the floor."
It hardly makes sense.
I'm sure there are many good dancers of that age, but most will have danced from a very young age. Yes, Pam had done some dancing before, but only really in a social way. I'm sure most beautiful dancers are also quite slim; I think people were surprised that Pam was as graceful as she was. It's easy for someone like Kara to look graceful, but not so easy for someone like Pam.
All of the good contestants in Strictly have been under 40, with a few exceptions. Cherie could do the elegant dances, but was hopeless at Latin. I think that says a lot.
Maybe it's because I'm a mental health professional myself, I can appreciate what she is saying and in particular the gulf between what we do professionally and how we can really be when we let go.
I liked her dancing and the relationship between her and James - I did not want her to win nor do I think she was the best performer. She finished in exactly the right place for me.
Apart from any overmarking I don't think Pamela was that good at Latin, at least not the faster ones. Unfortunately we never saw a samba from her but I don't think that would have been any better than her jive, cha cha etc.
Pamela's age figured far too dominantly in assessments of her dancing. She compared pretty well on a level playing field. Constant reference to her being 61 only served to muddy the waters.
It is interesting to read Pam's assessment of the experience, albeit a little early (a bit of time and distance will lead to a more balanced, less emotional view).
There was no mention of the ridiculous overmarking, but maybe she'd gloss over that out of embarrassment.
Her fast Latin wasn't great, but it was relatively good compared to most of the contestants, and it was good considering her build and age. Kara's Latin was slightly gimmicky for me, but generally good. I wasn't all that impressed with Matt's Latin, and Scott had a serious issue with his hips.
Overall, very few contestants have been able to cope with the fast Latin dances.
DWTS seems to be much better for producing high quality fast Dances. I loved Sabrina Bryan's Latin.
Why on earth should she mention it?
It's not her fault that she was given the scores she was, she doesn't have to state any opinion on it, and it's certainly not a fact that she was overmarked.
You know what they say about those that talk about it all the time ?
If James read this article he was either preening or vomiting into a bucket.
I suspect, if the judges overscores had not been there to protect her, she would have gone earlier with a low public vote, but she wouldn't have deserved to.
I had her equal to Scott on dance ability but she seemed to gain energy whereas Scott looked worn out at times. I am pleased she took the final spot where four dances were required .
I do wish she kept her pen shut with the James stuff. I am sure all the partnerships have issues and the pro-dancers understand this and deal with it in their own way (being gay must be the easier combination!) Writing down how she felt and how they dealt with it was just way too much information. I'm just not interested. As another poster said it's ewwwwwwwwww to read.
Quite possibly, I had a eeewwww reaction because it looks worse because it’s written down. If Pamela said all this over a gin and tonic, I would probably have said, “You go, girlfriend” <finger snap>. I might also have said, “You’ve got a loving husband at home. Flirt all you like, but don’t embarrass him”. Did it embarrass him? Hope not!
Some of the facial expressions of the contestants during the dances were quite bizarre to say the least, however many were not commented on. Except Gavin's.