There has been such blatent ageism, heightism, and erm, campism (?) this series, it really is apalling and rather depressing

Before the anti-PC brigade chirp up, I'll make it clear - I'm not claiming criminal discrimination, or deliberate attempts to upset anyone, or that anyone's human rights have been violated, and so on. OK? I'm merely referring to the seemingly never-ending, casual, lazy, stereotyping - which I'd (perhaps wrongly) assumed to be exactly the sort of outdated, predictable & unnecessary attitudes of which the BBC would be keen to set an example, by avoiding ...?

They kept banging on about Lesley Joseph's age... so much that even she admitted she'd found it frustrating & annoying, shortly after been booted out... even though the comments/references were almost always "positive", "encouraging" and/or made with good intentions, and so on.

[NOTE - That's a vital aspect of the point I'm trying to make, which the bbc/scd/the show's writers just don't seem capable of grasping, or even caring about]

Claudia/AJ = love's young dream, too cute for skool, young hearts run free, high school crush, pocket rockets, teeny tiny, young, small, little, youth, young, young, age, age, small, small, height, height. Every. Five. Seconds. Change the record, please!?

Claudia has won FOUR gold medals, and could literally somersault over Greg Rutherford's head if she wanted to, yet the amount of respect she is afforded by the show is often either completely non-existent, or else served up with a thick dollop of patronising/marginalised/undermarking/condescending/undermining/harmless-fun-poking/age-size-related-comments at every available opportunity.

Gethin's exclusive backstage 'interview' with "guys" Claudia, Greg & Ore on Friday's ITT was excruciatingly painful to observe - he clearly had zero interest in her, allowing her approx 3 seconds to (almost) answer his rushed, barely-coherent question, before cutting her off with "All part of the day job for you!", turning his back, and proceeding to laugh/chat/giggle/banter with Greg & Ore, back & forth for endless purile minutes, mostly about "shants" (a MAN-only thing, and thus no need for Claudia to even be on the screen anymore, never mind part of the "interview"....)

Did I happen to miss the episode where someone said to Ore:
"Wow, I can't believe how BLACK you are! You're just... SO black! I can hardly see you! Bet you can't wait to get to BLACKpool, eh? Aye, aye, nudge, nudge. Just having a laff mate, nothing offensive, no need to blub. Don't worry anyway, we've ditched the plan to have you dressed up as a slave next week. We tried, but the sequinned KKK costume we made for Joanne doesn't fit, argh! So we're going to dress you up as an African chief instead! Performing a voodoo seduction ritual on Jo with a piece of burning wood. Danny's well jealous! He thinks you really are an African tribesman, bless him. He's doing a Black-and-White-Minstrels themed Waltz.... with a twist! He'll be blacked up & Oti will be tippexed from head to toe! Tee hee. Nowt wrong wi dat, is de, matey? Just a bit of fun, innit? Good old British Saturday night entertainment on the BBC. Sevverrn! (7). LOL. They don't like it up 'em. Do they, hey? Eh? Aye? Whasssup? Nudge, wink, toot, sniff, wave arms, fall-off-chair. Nice to see you, to see you nice. Good game, good game. Didn't they do well? Rodney, you plonker! Keep out of the black & in the red, nothing in this game for two-in-a-bed. Oo-er, missus! I don't belieeeve it! The boys are right. Let's welcome our Stricklly staaaars. Pickle my walnuts. Yeah, I know. Am I bovvered? Is it because I is black? Harold! You know what I mean, Harry? Don't tell 'em, Pike! I'll save you, Kevin! We're gonna need a bigger boat.... Oh, hang on, sorry.... "

I think I missed that episode Perhaps it'll still be available on iPlayer?

Many cheers,
Dr
Last edited by midflight : 14-11-2016 at 12:43

I suspect the not infrequent references to Claudia's youth and height are a great deal less of an issue for her than they are to everyone constantly getting their knickers in a twist about it.

She's a young woman who has spent most of her formative years working towards becoming a champion in her chosen sport. To that end, she has probably made a lot of personal sacrifices in terms of opting out many of the "rites of passage" that other teenagers go through. Being young, being perfectly formed for gymnastics and not being keen to grow up before her time have all worked very much to Claudia's advantage and she seems to be to be superbly grounded.

She has already demonstrated that she can take criticism well and does not get angst-ridden about what others say about her gymnastics. On that basis, I hardly think she's going to take umbrage because people make references to her being the youngest contestant and the smallest contestant they have had on the show so far.

If it isn't troubling Claudia, it really shouldn't trouble anyone else.

deleted

I do think the attitude towards Claudia is very patronising, even if she takes it well. She's had an appalling deal with music; the fact she and AJ have always delivered good performances is amazing and I think that alone means they probably deserve to win!

I won't address your other points but I can only say that some of us think Gethin's "preferences" come into play a lot during his backstage interviews.

And I'll be stopping here otherwise I'll get modded and DS might be sued for libel.

They always infantalise the small, young female celebs - Louisa Lytton and Chelsee Healy had exactly the same treatment. Even Tina O'Brien who was actually a mother herself was subjected to the virtal head patting.

And at least Tess doesn't openly stare at Claudia's cleavage whilst she does it.

(Small mercies but...that's Tess I guess)

Tina and Kara were on the same series of Strictly and are the exact same age -- there's only two days between them. Kara was treated like a woman, Tina was treated (and dressed by wardrobe) like a child. And, as you say, Tina had a child of her own at that point. I found that particularly annoying because of the contrast in the treatment Kara and Tina each received.

As for Claudia, she is genuinely the youngest contestant this year, so mentioning that once (and ONCE only) would be acceptable, but they don't need to bang on about it incessantly. And the "aww, the cute widdle kids" attitude really is patronising.

Good innit?

All the elements to make it the most popular and talked about show on TV.

Just what the BBC wants.

I believe it's so popular it has got it's own internet forum...Actually probably several.

midflight - have you been skipping your meds. again ??

I just read this and wasn't sure exactly where it was heading. It's like the comment equivalent of a rollercoaster[/Bruno]

Anyways, you win my of the day!!!

1/ Note individual comments are of people concerned and not the BBC.
2/ A heck of a lot posted here us way way out of context.
3/ Final decisions on who stays are dine to the great British public.

Next someone will blame the BBC for the weather,

I blamed Carole Kirkwood last week, she got it wrong twice.
Once when I was due to play golf I baled out as she said it would rain and it didn't.
Then later in the week, she said it would be fine, so I went and it chucked it down!

Point proven, thank you.