I remember reading a press release that the BBC gave stating that it was never the intention of SCD to be taken as a serious dance competition.

Now how the fans interpret SCD it is subject to discussion and every person watches for their own reasons. But I think would be safe to say that the pros are not exactly preparing the celeb to compete at Blackpool. They are teaching them dance and teaching correct technique but certainly showmanship, personality and how both the celeb and pro come across and deal with the ups and downs in front of a camera all factor in. We know that just from the voting that what compels a person to pick up the phone and vote is different from your neighbor.
One celeb or pro that is well liked is loathed by another. That is what makes the competition interesting IMO.. Sometimes we feel like we are watching a different dance based on comments.

The celebs all have different reasons for doing the show and often times I don't it is just learning how to dance properly. It's getting their name out there, the challenge of it, the experience of actually doing something so difficult. Could any of us put ourselves out there like that to stand before Craig and survive it.

Fans get invested like a sports team and they want that win probably more than the celebrity, LOL. To me that is actually the magic of Strictly. If it were just dancing alone, it would be dry and wouldn't have the heart that it does.

I know, I have a bad feeling about that too

Please follow this page and gather support to try and get Darren and Lilia to have one last dance
http://twitter.com/DLOneLastDance

I don't post here often but thought I'd check in to see if there was any pre-show news.

Just wanted to add my two pennorth to this thread - I think that changes to the show were long overdue and for me that included replacing some of the pro dancers. I didn't think that Lilia would be in the list of dancers being replaced though (don't get me started on Matt!).

Lilia has had a few tough celebs during her run and with them all she has shown herself to be a talented choreographer, focused on creating routines to show her partner in his best light. She has made many silk purses out of sows ears and I have enjoyed watching every one.

So sad that she is out while Tony is still there.

Strictly is a family, romantic, feelgood show, and I sincerely hope the Beeb has not started something which ends with a marriage coming under strain.

Lilia always spoke her mind mincing no words, e.g. with Dom Littlewood. With Matt Dawson she shook her fist in practice. With Dom one time she was so provoked during practice she was shown on camera within an inch of walking out the door.

Darren is much more placid and emollient, demonstrably encouraging and supportive regardless, e.g. with tearful Jessie on her first dance and petrified Letitia on her first rumba. One time Dom was pawing Lilia in public, and Darren showed his mettle by promptly intervening, but Darren did not resort to fisticuffs which James might have done.

It does not surprise me that this time Lilia responds to public demotion differently from Darren, nor that a Russian responds differently from a Brit. Continentals have a different attitude to emotion, Poles and Russians especially -- full of fire and colour. Long may they continue, and I side with fire and colour .

Not that any of us knows anything about it, but from what has been in the press it doesn't seem to me that a marriage breakdown is the problem. It's an odd decision, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

I think that is roughly the gist of it.

When I heard that they were taking different courses in response to the offer, it was a surprise to me, but not difficult to understand, given their different characters.

Lilia has always been very competitive and always gave her best. She probably likes to be in control, and gets great results from that. If she was going to end up producing an unsatisfactory standard due to circumstances outside her control, I can understand her walking away.

Darren has the same standards, but I think he will suffer less emotionally if this year turns out to be unrewarding and not of great quality.

I can't help but feel that this is going to rip the heart out of the show. I'll give it a chance when it comes back .... but probably not much of one. Any show has to evolve, and Strictly has over the years, but this feels more like large scale revolution, and for what point? The format was wildly successful as it was. If it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it!

I've been advocating more investment in the pro dances, as I felt that they could produce better if they had more money and time to put into them. The aim would be to produce better quality. I think we haven't seen the best that the pros can produce.

Unfortunately, its sounding like the producers are concentrating on doing something different rather than an improved version of the same. They have replaced top level ballroom and latin dancers with dancers who are less talented at that, which indicates a drift away from the basis of the show.
SCD was somewhat linked to an era of a gentleman asking a lady to dance, and there was an element of formality and manners about it. That can be seen as old or out-dated, or it can be shown to be valid and entertaining. You can modernise it without abandoning the basics.

Changing to other genres of dance could result in the show losing its character. SYTYCD never really appealed to me, although I appreciate the skill of other forms of dancing.

If they had changed the show by improving the quality, I would have been happy.
If they just change the show to make it different, that's a lot easier to achieve.