Hello all, I am late to the game (DS wouldn't put my registration through for a couple of weeks), but I hope to still be welcome
).
I fell in love with Oti within 2 seconds when I saw her on German TV 2 years ago. Unfortunately she was paired in "Let's Dance" (German version of Strictly) in her first year with a middler at best and in her second voted off first, because she got a dislikeable moron as dancing partner.
So when this summer I got a new cable plan, which let me receive the BBC again after more than a decade, I wanted to get a glimpse of Strictly so see how she was doing over here (the glimpse became me watching it almost religiously including ITT and the whole shebang
).
While I loved Oti from day *scratch* minute one, Danny had a much harder job with me. I haven't heard or seen anything of him before, which didn't stop me to have a bag full of prejudices: I though he would be vain, slick, conceited, cocky, full of himself and I just hoped for Oti's sake that he didn't have two left feet on top of that.
How wrong I've been
and should teach me a lesson not to jump to conclusions without any actual facts. I don't remember exactly when my rooting for Oti became rooting for Oti *and* Danny, I think it was latest with the Quickstep (still among my firm favorites), probably before, but with the Quickstep I finally caved in and acknowledged to myself that I actually liked Danny, too. And it's ridiculous how much I came to like him for himself since then. He was the pure opposite of everything I thought he would be: Sweet, humble, hard-working, grateful, full of joy and enthusiasm for this experience/project, no camera-hog, reserved, almost shy, and maybe a tad to guarded in the beginning not to put a fut wrong (and not just on the dance-floor
. What's not to like?
I love all of their dances and the special moments they have created together on the dance-floor, with exception of maybe the Tango which even I consider frantic (but I blame the dratted Disco song they had to dance to
) and practically never rewatch.
My four favorites are the Quickstep (elegant, crisp, classic) , the Jive (pure fun and so many different kind of steps and movements, much underrated in my opinion), the Samba (I am still mesmerized by it, after first seeing it felt like a deer in the headlight, and actually Bruno's comments summed up pretty well my feelings. *lol* ) and the American Smoth (beautiful, lyrical, classic and with an heart-stopping end!).
I don't think Danny has been unpopular with the viewing audience (just look at his YT clicks, comment/polls etc. here and on social media etc.), but I do believe that he suffered from the label of being too good/too professional/having no real “journey” and his dances being nitpicked by the judges without mentioning them that Oti's choreography had so much more content and was much more difficult then those the others had.
I believe Danny and Oti knew going into the final they probably wouldn't win (and I don't think a flawless Quickstep would have changed the verdict), so they just wanted to go out there, give their best and have fun. Maybe their show dance was too edgy for the general viewer compared to the much mellower/gentler performances of Ore and Louise. I personally loved it, and I love that team Doti always were willing to take a risk and not playing it safe. Playing it safe would never have given us *that * Samba!
Last but not least (I've been going on for too long already, I hope I haven't bored you to death already
), I hope that Oti will soon get another good partner again and is able to win the glitterball one day in the not too distant future. And if she does, I will jump up and down in joy, but probably will still feel a tinge of regret that it couldn't have happened with Danny.
As for Danny, I am soooooo pleased for him, that he already has work lined-up, and hope that "Sleepless" will be a big success and comes to the Westend after its runs in Plymouth and Dublin (and I am already thinking about which of my friends I could talk into a London trip.
).
