Am I the only person who cringes at the start of seemingly every dance, with the appearance of a totally unnecessary prop? A cart at the start of Jamelia's dance? Jeremy in a bath? Kellie's briefcase?

I don't mind a prop cropping up every now and then if it genuinely adds to the story telling of the dance, but it seems to me that the first few seconds of most of the dances nowadays, have to incorporate a bizarre prop. It's almost as if the staging team go to a car boot sale every Sunday morning, pick up a few bargains and pick names out of a hat as to who has to incorporate what into a dance.

Bring back the days of dancing a dance without having to dance around the fruits of a jumble sale!

I'm all for gratuitous rhymes and alliterations too. Stop the shops for props, don't fall for the trap of this cr*p!
I don't remember fruit at a jumble sale though. Just granny elbows.

Whenever Tess or Claudia say 'still to come...' and we get two minutes of the couples yet to dance, we just know the stage crew are manhandling some monstrosity onto the floor. When each setting takes longer than the dance it does seem irrelevent.

I don't mind the odd prop. The light Sabres were good for K&Ks Charleston (although they used them for too long)

But an actual car and picnic table is reaching new levels of ridiculous.

Likewise making J&A dress up as graduates take selfies and high five the crowd was stupid. Let's just see two minutes of greet dancing like last night.

It's interesting by far the most popular dances every year have very little in the way of props and faffing.

Props give the dance and theme context, help you to visualise it, otherwise the dances would get very samey.

way to much propage in jamelia's dance, and the case was a distraction in the jive, although i guess it was supposed to be a central plot point....

They have seconds to coney the context and theme, Props are required, as much as the music and lights.

SCD got ten million viewers last night, if it ant broke do not fix it, and if you fix it, see what occurs such as X Factor loosing half its viewers.

loosing? You mean like their trousers are falling down?

I see your point, but some dances seem to incorporate props for the sake of it rather than really adding anything to the context or theme. After all, the story should be told through the dance, not by relying heavily on carriages and baths etc. I'm afraid it seems gimmicky to me.

However, I disagree with you that props are as important as music and lights. If the music and lights are appropriate, there should be no need to rely on things like carriages for dancers to simply step out of to tell a story.

Many of them haven't had prior dance training andcan't immediately tell a story though their dance, the props allow them to put on a show and entertain people.
What would the show be like without props? - just a lot of people fast forwarding until Jay & Aliona come on.

Lose the props and while they are at it, lose all the " faffing abart" on the stairs, sitting down etc as well

Each couple gets 90 seconds on the floor. I always feel that if they use props it's because they can't remember enough steps for a minute and a half performance..
I only watch the dances and the judges comments anyway, if they knock a few more seconds off each dance it won't be worth turning on soon...........

I don't mind the odd prop once it's there for good reason, i.e. it adds to the dance rather than gets used to kill time during it.

So what was the purpose of the kitchens in Ainslie's routine?
We know he's a chef and the music was 'shake , rattle and roll', nothing to do with cooking

Purely time wasting.

That bloomin' suitcase in Kellie and Kevin's jive detracted from the dance. I don't mind the odd prop here and there but they can go too far. Like Pasha holding the umbrella all through his dance with Carol. And not even a pretty umbrella. A ghastly plastic effort.

Much better, from what I remember! I yearn for the days before umbrellas, lampposts, park benches etc

I'm really not sure the props do help the beginners either. Often they seem to be an extra thing for them to have to contend with and worry about.

One or two routines (Scott's Jive, Sophie's Charleston) have benefited from props but overall I've found them unnecessary. I'd be happy never to see a prop on Strictly again.