...I'm sorry, but I was on the floor when she said he looked 11, handed him his "gift" of coloured plastic rings and then added.."I've also got some colouring in!!!"

Even the way she mockingly laughed at him after he hugged her was brilliant. AJ, for his part, took it in really good spirit.

Wonderfully spontaneous moment!

what on earth was spontaneous about it.
Do you really keep coloured hoop games around, big boy?

The reactions of AJ and the assembled celebs & dancers ...it was clear none of them were expecting it...

Didn't really like it but I agree that AJ handled it well.

I thought it was hilarious!

You know where its at Pitstop!!!

I didn't find it funny but maybe he should stop playing with his toy hoops and actually teach Claudia to dance since as someone else said on another thread I don't think he's going to get the best out of her and will let her down

I'm hoping he's got the desire to make his own mark on the show out of his system now, and will focus on maximising Claudia's potential.

Giovanni outdanced Georgia to begin with last year, but seemed to rein it in a bit as the series progressed - to meet her level.

If he does keep hoop games around his big boy, I for one will be mightily impressed.

Me too!!!

I found it embarassing

Humiliating the pro on his first appearance

That's our Claudia - Aljaz, Gleb & Giovanni have all been on the receiving end before AJ.

Yes but you don't like AJ and have made that clear with your derogatory comments in other threads.

Yes, I do like Claudia and usually find her gags a lot of fun but I'm already bored of the "you look 12" comments. He must be totally sick of it already. And it's not ego-tickling like it was with Gleb (he loved it IMO ) - just highly embarrassing for him.

Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking that

For once we disagree Nina...

Don't worry, I'm sure we'll have plenty more us vs. the world moments this series

I find her unfunny at the best of times, but when she keeps repeating the same old jokes she makes me cringe. Yes he took it well but what choice did he have.

Harmless fun, he'll survive.

You would not see Sir Bruce do that, but then he has real talent to be able to entertain, I like Claudia but she is not really in the same league.

I think Claudia is delightful and the show would be a lot more boring without her.

Maybe it's rude to pick on AJ for looking so young but I think it's one of those things that hasn't become politically-incorrect yet - maybe it should be but I don't think he looks very upset about it.

Zoe did it on ITT when she said he didn't look old enough to drive - after they did a little intro segment of him dancing in a garage with a car.

Absolutely! Bring them on!

Several of the other pros are apparently helping AJ with the choreography!
AJ is a dancer and has, all his dancing life, simply taken lessons from teachers who provide him with his choreography and he has never done any of his own (which is what you would expect from one so young)

It was always a silly idea to bring in someone with only amateur competition experience but the had to find someone short enough to dance with Chloe and were short on options (excuse the pun)

He won't be there next year and knows it but having been forced to turn pro will have to compete next year and probably not even make finals on the Open Dance circuit.

BIB Claudia.

You say he won't be there next year. Do you think that spells the end for Chloe too? That will bring the number down to 15 and could mean that all pros get a partner...?

Really? Where have you heard that? And who is helping?

I presume you mean they had to find someone short enough to dance with Claudia rather than Chloe? Whilst he was the obvious choice to go with Claudia - i can't see that he is the only one who could have done it - I think he's the same height as Kevin, Gorka and Neil (all around 5 ft 8 I believe) so any one of them could have done it surely? I know he's the closest to her in age - but they had Vincent dance with 17 year old Louisa so it's not inconceivable.

Whilst it might have been Claudia's signing up that made him the most suitable signing, I can't imagine he won't be here next year - they'll be wanting to keep the young blood to appeal to the younger demographic.