Sorry to bang on about the age thing again but if anyone checks out the American version of SCD on Raphael's website. They'll see Vivica Fox giving very energetic performances which put her right up there with the younger performers both male and female, and apparently she's the wrong side of 40. Granted as an actress starring in such physically demanding roles as an assassin in films like Kill Bill. she has probably maintained a good level of fitness. But I think she proves that being over 40 is a handicap for giving firebrand performances



Interestingly enough Vivica too was voted off despite a strong performance, praise from the judges, and a good score

I totally agree - particularly early on in the series. They forget that for most of the dancers it is the first time that they have danced or even performed - give constructive criticism, yes, such as recommending what they need to work on, but the uncalled for abuse only leads to a sympathy vote.

I take the points made regarding the age/fitness/energy differences but haven't all the celebs except the sports people been to drama school somewhere or other? Carole Smillie was lead singer in a band back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Celebs previous history often shows they have tried all kinds of ways to be famous, so I would expect most of them to have had dance classes at some point before they chose their particular "niche".

Ehhh ??? Never heard that one before and I'm a Glaswegian, just like Carol. She was a model but nothing else as far as I know. Details, please !!!

I must admit I wondered about that ... I remember Carol from Wheel of Fortune but that's the first thing.

I seem to remember that Claire King was the singer in a punk band many moons ago, though.

Oops....just read my own post. I meant ot say being over 40 is NO handicap for giving firebrand performances

I saw a programme along the lines of "before they were famous" in the recent past and Carole Smillie was fronting a band and definitely not sounding great.