I must admit that I am finding it hard to warm to Natalie- she is not a patch on Camilla - who you could warm to instantly

Natalie comes over as too competitive - rember her asking on ITT has anybody had a 10 on their first show

I can't tell you how differently I felt after seeing Natalie on the Pro Tour! I really like her now and can even see me rooting for her! Last series though I didn't take to her at all and felt only Aliona was worse!

I think Lilia was quite competitive too. It's just that she wasn't always given the material to work with. Anyway getting someone like Ricky W was bound to bring out the competitive spirit since he was really very good. I think Natalie just wanted to see him get fair credit for his dancing. I will miss Lilia but I quite like Natalie, and in fact prefer her to Aliona and Katya.

I wonder if the beeb thought she and Darren had won too much and it was getting boring for the viewers. Each time either of them got a decent partner they got to at least the quarters. They've both had duds for the last few years, they couldn't justify doing that to them again so sidelined them. They're victims of their own success

There's plenty of point - she's not the only pro dancer, and certainly not the only good or popular one.

I think she's a great teacher and often hilarious on ITT, and she will be missed. I get that she is some people's favourite pro, and I'd be gutted if my favourites left too, but she chose to go, and the show is not and never has been about her alone or solely about any of the dancers who have left.

Natalie grew on me as a dancer after the celeb tour and even more so after the pro tour, but I didn't really warm to her until I met her. The second time I was able to have a decent chat with her, and she openly admitted she's a perfectionist, but it's only because she wants the viewing public to get the best show that they possibly can, and she wants to put in as much effort as possible to do that. Of course she wants to win, and wanted to last year, but so do all the pros, it's in their nature as competitive dancers. What came across to me overall is her desire to do the best job she can, regardless of whether that leads to a win or not, because that's what she's there to do. Ola said the same on ITT last year.

I actually started to warm to Natalie in the last couple of weeks of last year's competition. I think she's probably my favourite pro now Ian's not partnering...

I warmed to Natalie by about week 4. I had absolutely no opinion of Camilla at all until her second semi-final meltdown.

I think people are taking the OP's opinion a bit personally. For me it's not about saying the show was about Lilia, that she was the only good pro on it. Everyone has things about the show they enjoy, for some people it may have been watching Lilia- who is after all very good at getting the best of her celebs, an exceptionally talented dancer, and has a very appealing personality when being interviewed on ITT.

I never expected to get to the point where one person would make or break the show, because it's not the kind of show which is or should be about one person. But sadly for me a lot of what made the show special disappeared over the last few years. It had genuinely got to the point that I was only really watching because I could watch Matt and the Bennetts pro dances. So I have a similar opinion to the OP. There's not much left on the show for me now.

I'm going to watch tonight, and maybe something will change my mind- I kind of hope so as I used to love the show, and I miss that. But at this stage I only see myself watching very casually- a huge change for me.

I don't think you should criticise the OP, or say the he/she is wrong, no matter what your feelings about the new show. The point is that the show means different things to different people. It's perfectly possible that a change can leave some people feeling even more excited about the show, whilst others feel robbed of what made the show great for them. It isn't a reflection of the talent of who is left, it's a reflection of people's personal preferences.

I have a completely opposite view to this! In all the series of Strictly, I have never warmed to Camilla in the slightest. In contrast, I loved Natalie from the beginning. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say one isn't a patch on the other - am sure both are equally lovely, and both are fabulous dancers, but it is completely personal taste as to which one you prefer, rather than saying one is better than the other.



Echoed, especially the BIB.

I think you are being a bit harsh on the OP.
You have moaned a lot on here this week about your favourite pros getting duffers or the possibility of them getting duffers.

Everyone watches the show for different reasons & you need to respect that.

Reducing the contestant numbers to 14 meant someone had to miss out. At least the Beeb wanted to keep both Darren & Lilia. Sadly Lilia chose not to remain in the show dance troupe which is the biggest shame, as we will miss out on routines that Darren & Lilia would have had a decent time to rehearse & perfect, rather than those we have had in previous years. Would have actually made more sense to get rid of Anton & Erin but can you imagine Anne with anyone but Anton and as others have pointed out, Anton is so weak in Latin he would be unsuitable for the troupe.

I hope next year we will have a nice tall female celebrity which would get Ian back.

The show is supposed to be about the celebrities and over the years the professionals have become more famous (especially last year with the relatively unknown bunch).

I wantedpro dances where they had more time to rehearse, but I also wanted better sets and lighting - we may get all that.

I also wanted the pros to do the choreography and the dances to be SCD dances with maybe other flavouring added, such as Ian and Darcey's jive/ballet.

What I'm expecting is other genres and choreography by 'invitees', similar to SYTYCD?, and I suspect that one or both of those may be the main reason Lilia decided it wasn't what she wanted to do.

No Lilia - what a shame!

Lets hope that one of the new pro ladies can step into her shoes.

Yep - things move on - so why won't Brucie???

Come on guys, no one is being unfair to the OP. The title of this thread is 'What's the point without Lilia?'

So what did they expect posters to say? None of the replies have criticised Lilia and most have empathised with the OP, whilst saying that there is plenty of point to SCD without Lilia.

I doubt if anyone would have chosen Lilia to be in the pro dance troupe or not be on the show at all, so loads of people will miss her, but they will still watch the show.

Lilia's always been one of our favourite girl pros but I think I know why the BBC has done it. They've not just axed the 'veteran' pros; Brian, of course, only did two series. They do seem to have picked on the ones with the biggest fanbases. For example, the formidable 'Fortuna's Fantastics' are probably numerous enough to influence voting. Darren and Lilia's fanbase is enormous too. Perhaps the BBC is scared that these 'stars' were outshining the celebs to the point that no one other than Hollywood megastars would match up. Releasing the celebs names before their pros this time is a similar move. People have been complaining about the calibre of celebrities the past few years - so they're doing something about it. I'm aware than Vincent and Flavia have a big fanbase too so I'm not sure how much this argument has weight - it's just a musing really. If it's a little true, I do understand.

C
http://frankieandcloverstrictly.blogspot.com/

I can see the 'size of fan base' idea, but I'm coming around to agreeing with the suggestion that those who stayed have attracted the most media coverage (good or bad) in the past.

I'm not sure that's strictly true. It was her choice not to be in the pro dance troupe but I'm sure she would have stayed on with a celeb partner.

I totally agree, had the BBC offered Lilia a celeb she should would still have been there. She made the right decision about the pro dance troupe, judging by the disappointing routine from the Launch Show. I hope the BBC see sense and invite her back next year.

Thank you. I didn't think I was being harsh at all, especially seeing as I like Lilia as well! I was just responding to the thread title. Of course people are allowed to moan, as I see I've been accused of doing ( and to be fair I was moaning about Ola getting Paul!) but to say there's no point to Strictly without Lilia is being a tad melodramatic in my opinion, although of course people are entitled to do so if they wish. Just as we are entitled to point out possible counter-points.


Yes, I think she has said she would have stayed to teach a celeb. But at the end of the day it was her choice to cut ties with the show completely, and I think that's what most of us ave been meaning by saying it was her choice to go. The dance troupe clearly doesn't take up much time, she could have done it, but she chose not to, and it's a shame because it means we don't get to see her at all now, except perhaps on ITT, or with any luck on the Christmas Special

What's Marian Keyes gonna do now!?
Wasn't she her crazed 'celeb' stalker?

I don't post in this part of the forum much anymore, through fear of sounding like a broken (and boring) record - but my take on it is that I will miss Matthew and Brian most of all - but also Ian and Lilia. I liked them all really - and without them IMHO the whole show has/and will go to hell in a handcart!

After seeing Jimi and Flavia's training video, Jimi is exactly the kind of partner I'd been wishing for Lilia to get, so we could see some spectacular Latin.

I really like Flavia and Ola too, so Jimi isn't going to be wasted (although - looking at his sweaty T-shirt - he probably feels 'wasted' in the other sense of the word). Flavia will produce some great routines.

My guess was that Lilia didn't think the troupe was being set up right (maybe the invitee choreographers?).

AGREED.


I agree with the OP too ... I miss her already and it hasnt properly started yet ...

I really like Crystal but Darren without Lilia well it just isnt right.

I know we have little Ola but I still love little Lilia.