Craig and Bruno.

Fair enough , but I think the impact on Strictly is pretty minimal.

On the US version, the phone vote's open for an hour after the show airs and the internet vote for 24 hours. (I know you weren't making that comparison, but another poster was, and thought it a better system). Strictly having such a short window in which to vote means it's not possible to power vote on an industrial scale. Add to that the small number of free internet votes and fairly steep charges for phone votes and I agree with posters up thread, that multi-voting amounts to a drop in the ocean on Strictly.

Some of the music choices, particularly for rumba. They routinely choose songs for rumba that are much too slow. I'm not such a purist that I think that every song choice should be like dancesport competition music (god forbid lol) but there's plenty of popular songs that could be used in their original form, plus it's really easy to adapt music to be danceable, particularly rumba (take an acoustic version, stick a rumba beat under it, good to go!!!)

I felt like G&G got a bit shafted with that sam smith bond song. It's a great atmospheric song but sooo slow. Watching them do syllabus steps to it was bizarre to me because they didn't fit. I can see why Gio choreographed it in the way he did. It's tough on the pros because how do you choreograph to it (big props to brendan having to choreograph a waltz to music in the wrong time signature twice in his strictly career.) And tough on the celebs because it's much harder and more exposing to dance to music slower than you should be.

Compare this version of hello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctFAwNQ8MOI
to this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY_ty2n-mNc

The tempo change isn't too jarring to the listener and it's much easier to dance and choreograph to.

Maybe people don't realise how prescribed the music is for latin and ballroom. It's not really like other dances where you change your dancing to fit the music. With L&B you change the music to fit the dance.

Other changes:
A judging panel with a latin and ballroom background
More ballroom and ten dance specialist pros
Pro dances usually showcase one or two dance styles

Perfect

They could invite the casts of the Lion King and Starlight Express to perform around them.

Agree with your other points, second place not being announced is a huge bugbear of mine

Three main issues:

1. Inappropriate music

2. Judges' inconsistencies, which for a salary in excess of £100k is scandalous

3. Manipulation of dances so that a popular contestant gets a most difficult dance at a significant point in the competition


A small 4: the VTs, (mostly) POINTLESS.

Agree with all four of these.

Totally agree! The VTs are getting beyond parody now. You can tell the ones who are loathing it - Helen looked so awkward on that fake girls night out. And without wishing to incur the wrath of "Team GG" fans, don't get me started on the "doctor" VT!

Yes I quite agree to make poor Georgia shoot an intro video when she was feeling so ill was unkind and unnecessary - and must have eaten into the very short rehearsal time they had that week.
Thank goodness she had already learnt the VW for her Blackpool AS !
Actually having watched GGs intro VTs since I quite enjoy them as they both have such appealing personalities.

I have no memory of any of the intro VTs as that is usually when I make a coffee or let the dog out - but surely Helen as an actress would have a big advantage as Georgia did and be able to act with some realism and comedic timing in her VTs ?
It seems very odd to me that an actress would look 'awkward' on a girls night out - not a very flattering thing for you to say !

I think there's a difference between having to act as yourself and having to act as a character. Some people are just a bit self conscious as themselves.

I actually think some of the best (bearing in mind it's a pretty low bar) comedy VT's come from the non-acting/performing celebs anyway (ok, mainly Gavin Henson's )

This isn't a comment on how ill any contestant was at any particular time but Doctor VTs are pure XFactor. Hopefully never to be seen again on Strictly Imagine if all the celebs and pros did one when they had an illness or injury through the series, we'd see nothing else. It would be like a sparkly reality version of Casualty.

The scripted VTs are also very XFactor/Towie. There are celebs like Peter Andre and Mark Wright who are comfortable pretending the scripted lines they're speaking are coming from themselves, having done that as a day job and then there are those understandably uncomfortable with that, some pros too.

Helen's day job as a serious character actress is rather different.

The contrived themes in them make it difficult for even the most accomplished actors to act well in them. In the case of Helen I felt she always put her excellent acting abilities to best use, on the dance floor, and delivered many excellent performances throughout the series.

Thank you for the kind comment about the "Team GG" fans, I feel so welcome in here...
Though, as with Sandy, I am with you in not particularly liking the "doctor" VT. It's a very difficult one to watch, for me it's upsetting to see Georgia so upset and so absolutely gutted about becoming ill at this point in the competition. My feeling is of overwhelming sympathy for her and as Sandy has said, I think it was harsh to make her take part in a VT that week considering that she could barely speak for some of it.

Personally, I think allowing the judges (one in particular) to describe someone's facial expression as "dead" plus other personal comments, when the celebrity has just lost a very close family member - not appreciating that at all

My favourite Injury Porn VT is still Laila Rouass with her ankle injury taxi dash to A&E - with the bag of frozen peas outside the Ugg boot. That will take some beating

Brilliant.

I am loving that

what dont I like about Strictly

1) props - no need for them

2) inappropriate music

3) the dance off and the judges having the final say as to who leaves - it should be decided by the public - the couple with the lowest vote leaves - simple

4) dances not looking anything like they are supposed to

5) pointless "comedy" VTs

Although I broadly agree with your list I do think we have to keep the judges 'final say' - part of the appeal of Strictly is to see people progress and become talented dancers.
The public have a nasty habit of voting for the comedy acts and for people who arrive to take part in Strictly with an already enormous fan base.
Without the judges 'final say' we could end up watching a selection of celebs with no dance ability making it to the final.
This probably wouldn't upset the general public but for people who actually like watching good ballroom dancing it would be a disaster !

Actors who have spent three years in drama school will be very used to improvisation when placed in a 'fake' scene.
It is very much part of their training and some Directors (Mike Leigh for example) use improv as a base for their work and most rehearsals in the theatre start with a great deal of improvisation to get into character.

I do agree that a small minority of actors find it hard to act as themselves - but not usually successful ones..

I think Oscar winning actors would find the VT's hard to work on. They are awful and not funny!!!

The thing is that certainly or the first third, maybe even half, of the show there is in effect a 2 tier system in that the celbs at the top of the leaderboard are as safe as its possible to be without the public vote doing an complete reversal of the judges marks.

You only have to look at the eviction profiles of the non-dance off years to see that some of the biggest judge/viewer bottom 2 ... discrepancies ... come in the dance off years - probably because people have to vote to get their current favourite out of the bottom 2 rather than just dead last which pushes the vunerable placings up a notch or so.

By and large, in the words of My Hero, The Public Gets What The Public Wants.

Helen - if that's who we're still talking about - is lucky to be one of the successful minority, then.

I agree with this. Awful comment at the best of times but under the sad circumstances it was inexcusable.

No I was really thinking of very successful actors like our recent Oscar winners - they don't seem to have a problem being themselves !

I would like to think he was told off for being so insensitive or at least apologised after the event but probably not.

Remember when he said it and thinking - did I hear correctly??

That is where charisma kicks in