The eager anticipation of the new series was soon dissipated as one after another poor performance was brought to the dance floor.
Every contestant was excused by the judges as having "nerves", especially by Darcy who doesn't seem to have improved her comments since she appeared as a guest.
Apart from Denise and to a lesser extent Colin it was possibly the worst opening night ever for Strictly...
Let's hope tonight will improve, although with Lisa Riley and Johnny Ball to come it may not be much better.
It is the first week on air though and maybe they will get better with more tuition.
Here's hoping that one of the better programs on TV is not going beyond its sell by date.

What would be the point of the show if they were all brilliant from the very start? It's good to have a mixture of talent and to have people like Pendleton mess up - it's part of the entertainment and enjoyment of the show.

I too thought it was the poorest opening show since I've been watching.

Agree with a lot of the opening post. Even then I don't get the fuss about Colin.

Hopefully first night nerves and it will get better.

Average score for tonight: 20
Average score for the first six couples on the first show last year: 22.7
Average score for the lowest six couples in the first week last year: 17.7

And there weren't exactly high hopes for some of the couples performing tonight.

Yes I agree that Colin was under-marked, with Kristina offering tremendous atmosphere -- go'on give Kristina a tryout as Bond Girl.

Colin and Kristina were like a two-storey house, do you watch upstairs or downstairs?

I thought the performances overall were a lot poorer this year, but I think the judges are normally kinder on the first night and score them higher than they actually deserve, so I'm quite happy the scores are starting low so they've got room for growth before they hit the 10s.

I actually quite liked seeing that with the exception of Denise they clearly didn't have dance training as it gives them more room for improvement, which hopefully we'l see in the coming weeks.

I loved it! Enjoyed evey bit of it except Craig going way overboard on poor Nicky and Denise Van Fakey's face pulling. Othewise I loved the show and thrilled it's back on

yeah i agree it was a very poor opening night!

the whole night seemed very awkward
bruce seemed a bit stumbly over his words more than normal , even the judges apart from len seemed very tense

most of all though the dancing was pretty bad Nicky and Victoria were very dissapointing

i think the men chosen for this year (Colin/Michael/Johnny) are uninspired choices , i think they are lacking a "stage and screen superstar" like Jason Donovan

the girls are an decent selection

i think some height issues between couples is not good

But surely that is the point of SCD taking a group of non-dancers and watching them develop their skills as the weeks go by.

If they had all come on and all danced brilliantly then what would be the point of the programme?

Exactly. Really, this bunch are no worse than in previous years. The only difference is that the judges appear to be starting at a lower level than before, which can only be a good thing, as it gives them room to manoeuvre.

Inevitably, there is going to be a wide range of competence shown at this early stage, which is all part and parcel of the format.

I enjoyed the opening show and am looking forward to Part 2 tonight - unlike the OP, I'm not going to start writing Strictly off just yet...

I thought it was strangely flat. The dancing wasn't good, but it was more the general vibe, in a few camera shots people seemed to be standing around with long faces, there seemed to be no excitement. I find Darcy quite odd, she is/was a fabulous dancer but her screen presence is kind of annoying with the constant 'yeah?' 'ok?' at the end of nearly every sentence.

I do hope it's not past its sell by date, cos I love strictly.

You can't really compare this year's scores with any previous year apart from the first imo.

The scoring was totally realistic and no-one got a 7 for just turning up.

5 is an average score and 5s were what a lot of them got.

Now the judges have somewhere to go with the scores and a good score is genuinely earned.

i think the issue is that people have a made up mind - if the celebrity is pretty and fit they straight away force them to think they will be perfect dancing and due to this they have big expectations- remember the highest you go the worse fall you take


This Friday had Victoria, Nicky, Denise, Colin and Michael who are classified as lean and pretty/sexy but didnt deliver to expectations


Fern has been striked as older than all of them and not that well tonned however i think she did better than any of the others because she came out more confident than them and was able to perform the dance without giving a damn if she was not looking perfect all the time ...that "let go" attitude is what gives you confidence to attempt and get better

Perhaps the judges were guilty of rampant over-marking last year, this year they seemed to be more in line with the actual standard, leaving themselves somewhere to go when dancing improves (as it will).

Like you I thoroughly enjoyed part one and can't wait for part two.

I am glad that the bar has been set high and the low scores were reasonable for first performances. Doling out 7 or 8 or 9 and this stage is totally ridiculous. If you start with a 5 then get a 6 you will be delighted and even more so if you get a 7. Each achievement however small spurs you on to do better.The total scores reflected the performances imo.

I think that they were especially Alesha.

I think it's a completely different trend from any series right down to the first. Christopher Parker got a 7 in his first dance. So did Esther Rantzen. For nobody to get one this year, I think something's clearly happened. In any other series at all Denise would have got at least one 7, probably from Bruno, if not an 8.

And let's face it - they have only had three weeks training - they will still be getting to grips with the basic steps and technique at the moment.

Darcey did give her a 7 which I thought was deserved. At least Len's comment about the heel leads reflected in his score of 6.

PS: Just read your blog summary of the show - very good as always.

D'oh. I forgot Darcey.

And at least we didn't have Alesha dishing out an 8 for the very first dance of a new series - unforgivable!

I cant believe you 'yah' forgot Darcey 'yah'


I thought it was about par for the course for Strictly....some things never change.

Bruce fluffing
Tess looking like she has been dragged through a hedge backwards.
Someone stuffing up their routine (shame it happened to Brendan two years in a row)
Craig thinking he is judging week 11 rather then week 1
An ear bashing about an illegal lift
Kristina wearing very little
Artem getting his chest out.

Alls right with the world Strictlys back YAH?

Please do not complain about the best feature.

Whilst I agree that it was probably the lowest standard we've had on a first night for a few series, I actually think that's what made it so enjoyable. It's nice to have a group of celebrities where I really feel like there's no frontrunners right from the off.

I hate to use the word, and I know how much others hate it too, but I think it opens up this series for quite a few "journey" contestants. It's nice to think that there was nobody really amazing enough for people to label them a runaway front runner.

As for the scoring, I really enjoyed the low scoring. With a long way to go, we want to see them develop and grow. If they're good from week 1, it usually ends up a downfall.

Peeve basically summed it up perfectly. If celebrities were too good in the first week, there's nowhere for them to go and it pretty much writed them off because the public generally seem to prefer "journey" contestants. With the scores they were given, and the performances overall, it opens the door, for all of them (at least those first few) to have that journey people will enjoy.

I really wouldn't write it off yet. Even in week 1, there's a real feel of the competition being wide open.

I don't know, maybe I was watching something different to others, but I really enjoyed it, and I came away from it with quite a positive feel.

There was some good, Colin and the Pro Denise....but as it's the first show..you don't expect much, and only 6 couples last nigh, 8 tonight, may get better, but as I said, it's the first show.