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Fern & Artem article
dippydancing
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Ok- so it's the DM, so have barrels of salt on stand-by. Say it ain't so...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3110170/My-Strictly-partner-used-kick-says-Fern-TV-presenter-reveals-couldn-t-stand-teeth-muscles-professional-paired-with.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3110170/My-Strictly-partner-used-kick-says-Fern-TV-presenter-reveals-couldn-t-stand-teeth-muscles-professional-paired-with.html
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Not keen on either of them and certainly don't miss seeing them on television.
That's the difference between her and Holly - Holly was more than happy to sit on a chair
I wonder how many celebs actually keep in touch with their pro dancer partners and how many "KEEP ON DANCING" to quote Brucie. Actually to be fair to Fern, she is not the first celeb partner to complain about her time on Strictly. I remember Linda Bellingham saying on Loose Women she hated every minute and was glad she was voted off the show early. AND that the pro dancers took the whole show much too seriously. I cannot remember who her partner was on SCD.
Darren Bennett.
I don't know about America but over here he had three good, young dancers. That might be the reason they had a better experience.
To be fair, Kara wouldn't be likely to say he was vile to her, and Holly probably couldn't summon up the energy to give a toss. I've forgotten Artem's other partners apart from Natalie - who were the others?
I remember Miriam Margolyes saying of her experience of working with Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'He didn't find me attractive so he didn't think I mattered and I hate that attitude.' Unfortunately, a lot of men only think it is worth being nice to a woman if she is deemed attractive. If a woman is plain or past it then, to them, she is either invisible, not worth the effort, or a figure of contempt. Of course Artem will play nice on DWTS because that show is the holy grail for some of the pros and the celebs there are seen as stars just because they are American.
From what I have heard, if you are female and going on the show, you'd want Pasha for sheer professionalism and Aljaz for patience and loveliness. It would be interesting to see how Pasha copes with an older duffer. The celeb my friend knew on last year's show didn't really get to know Tristan but he does come across as having the right attitude too. It would be interesting to see more of him on the show to see if this is right.
I feel a bit sorry for Fern being lumbered with him. She should have been partnered with Anton and got the best of both worlds - no chance at all of winning but having a fun experience at the same time. Just ask Kate Garraway...
Yes, Anton has said more than once that he took competing and he takes his tours very seriously and can be quite a stroppy perfectionist but he realised long ago that Strictly is just an entertainment show and is meant to be about having fun.
My backstage report on Anton is that he seems very nice, is a good sport, but you never feel you get to really know him. He gets on well with most of his partners even though he's had to cope with one or two of the most difficult personalities who've ever appeared on the show. Obviously Laila Rouass might disagree.
Yes, but Fern had to some extent scuppered herself by doing an OK jive in the Christmas Special so she was already in the 'not a complete duffer' class - and Anton was steering Jerry Hall round that year.
I do think you get a better picture of the pros when they get a less able celeb. It's easy to be all sunny and bright when you have the ringer or peoples favourite.
I also wonder if the score and comments of the Christmas Special for Fern gave her a false expectation. We know that the judges are generally a couple of Egg-Nogs to the good and will give any old tut a 6, but if a celeb has spent a couple of weeks having a bit of a lark and gets over 30 and then comes on the main show, with all the work that entails, and can't match that score it must be a bit maddening.
I remember during the John Sargent fall out, Anton was on ITT and said that he realised in series one when Lesley went out to a young lad who ran around with a cape that often the better dancer loses out and he always remembers that.
BIB - precisely..."an OK jive" with the much more patient Matthew Cutler.
This further proves my point that Fern's negative experience on and memory of the show was mainly down to being partnered with Artem.
Yes, it was an OK jive in the context of a Christmas Special where you basically get a 6 even from Craig just for turning up, Bobby Ball and Su Pollard both (I think) got at least 6's for goodness sake!
I think training for the Christmas Special is a bit like an end of term jolly. The only thing that really happened is that she proved she could move a bit too well for Anton.
On DWTS Artem's had Lea Thompson, who, whilst not a duffer due to her ballet training during her 20s, was in her mid 50s at the time, and though started strongly, petered out towards the end and was eliminated in the semi finals. She was best likened to Pamela Stephenson on the English version.
He then had Patti LaBelle, mid 70s, the sort of contestant Anton gets on SCD, and he had an absolute whale of a time. I mean, her dancing was naff, but her salsa and Jazz with a complete duffer were great fun, and Artem looked like he was also having fun. I reckon Fern may be telling the truth that he was grumpy and a bit rough, but I doubt entirely he was the venomous beast the Daily Fail are painting him as...
If people can remember back to Artem's early days on ITT, he sat there hardly saying a word and looking like he just couldn't be bothered. Several years down the line, I think that impression was right. He's a very good looking guy and a great dancer, but his ego or arrogance, call it what ever you like is his downfall as far as I'm concerned. It also seems to me that his own ambitions are the priority in any relationship I've seen him in. Might be doing the guy down, but that's my impression.
Re Lynda Bellingham. I think the main reason she hated her time on the show was because she was so uncomfortable with her body. We now know what a faff the less than slender female celebs go through with their costumes, wearing several layers to pull it all in and I think Lynda found that hard to take with so many fit pros around her.
What do people reckon about Gleb? Quite often the new pros prove me wrong. I think I'm not going to like them and I end up adoring them. On the plus side Gleb is very good-looking and averse to wearing clothes but he does seem quite serious and self-regarding. If he slouches on the sofa on his first ITT and insists on putting his interpretation of La Fille Mal Gardée into a Charleston to When I'm Cleaning Windows then we'll know we've got a bad 'un.
But she did dance with Artem on the tour, didn't she?