I am delighted that the Beeb are employing home grown talent and the Continual Clifton Criticism annoys me.

Anton usually gets the older 'duffers' not any other pros. Three quarters of Kevin's partners haven't been hot young things, although they have some talent.

Danny supporter here .... Who also appreciates that ALL the pro's are doing the job they are paid to do, and the BBC try to provide different personalities to appeal to the widest audience possible, with both the pro's and celebs they employ.

Long may it continue, as the show with 15 of any of the same personalities/styles/strengths would become boring very quickly indeed.

It'd help if you address the topic rather than dismissively sneer about one set of fans. Why can't it be Claudia's fans for example? Or the Judge's?

For what it's worth I like Joanne and Karen so definitely not anti-Clifton. Once I see Kevin train a duffer and have to embrace the silliness of the show I'll probably like him as well. It does bug me that, for the second week in a row, he's got away with choreographing an American Smooth in the place of another Ballroom dance whereas other pros have been ripped to shreds for that in the past.

I had read your post quickly and got it as have been hot young things. I was about to ask if you are the same age as Bruce...

Though Susanna would still never have been able to win against those with dance training - I think Kevin did well to get her to the finals.

Anyway, I really don't see how Kevin is any different from say, Pasha? He had Chelsee Healey (clearly had some dance experience and was young and fit, Kimberley Walsh with stage school training and young and fit, Rachel Riley who prior to the show was thought to be a contender as well as young and fit, Caroline Flack with stage school training ballroom experience and young and fit. It was only after these contenders on paper that he began getting the older, less capable celebs. Kevin's track record is almost identical to Pasha's, with three dance trained celebs and one without, except the average age of Kevin's first four partners has been higher.

Let's see how long this thread continues before it is closed by the mods.

I'm not sure - if the audience had taken to them they could have still won; look at Darren & Lilia and Chris & Ola. Susanna was a better dancer than both of the celebrities there.

The key difference between Kevin's partners and Pasha's is Rachel didn't have a natural connection with either the technique or the steps. Whether they auditioned the celebrities as strongly that year as they did this I'm not sure... as they still did the opening group dance it's a possibility... but it was pretty obvious she was going to have serious issues with Latin very early on. Admittedly Louise's Latin isn't as strong as her ballroom but they've kept her away from both the Salsa and the Samba until two dance week.

I think I will copy this and paste it every time the same claim is made against Kevin

I have to stipulate though, I have absolutely nothing against Fudd, who I feel often makes excellent contributions.

Do feel free to use though

Well, it's definitely open to interpretation, but it's just the way I see it anyway.

Also, I'm not certain on Chelsee's dance background, but I'd be very surprised if she'd done nothing.

I agree wholeheartedly!

Out and out 'duffers' of the level of Ann and Nancy (who were really bad) tend to go to Anton. Other pros tend to get celebs who are not quite the 'right' age or shape/size but who may have some ability or those who seem ok at first but turn out to be unexpectedly poor dancers. Celebs are shared more fairly around the female pros, although Karen has had more than her fair share of less obvious contenders.

Not that Anton has fared badly in his role on Strictly. Neither has Katya this year. As far as public recognition is concerned you probably want someone very well known with enough personality to last a while. That's the jackpot for someone wanting to be a household name.

Now I'm blushing. I did mean Rachel didn't have a connection with the technique and audience rather and technique and steps in the original post.


I'm not so sure about Chelsea - I think her natural exuberance got her through a lot of things but it looked like she had to pick up a lot of things from scratch.

When you put it like that I can see what you're saying, and it can be construed as being unfair on Kevin, but that relatively early departure for Pasha did buy him a but if breathing space. That and none of his partners were pushed as much as Kellie appeared to be in the latter stages last year; whether fairly or unfairly I think that got a lot of people's backs up and, as they came as a couple, Kevin has picked up a lot of the fallout.

I must admit I'm not a fan of the Cliftons but even I'm getting fed up with Clifton bashing threads.

That's a really good point. A pro on Strictly can get their name more out there with a duffer than a contender, if the public finds the pairing endearing.
Karen is really good with the less talented dancers, Katya has warmed her way to people's hearts with Ed.