I meant, sometime in the past 3 years, you know?


Not relevant - he can still take lessons.

So why didn't he?

Yes, there's maybe 10 times as many salsa dancers as AT dancers in the UK. But then, salsa's much easier to learn.


No more bizarre than salsa, or American Smooth for that matter.


No - you're confusing cause and effect, it's the other way round. In other words, Vincent and Flavia were only brought in because they wanted to include AT (as they did in S3 with the group dance).


No, but it's hypocritical of Brendan to keep on about how he's such a keen competitor. If he were that keen, he'd have taken lessons in salsa or AT.



Nah, me neither, Brendan would probably drop him

I've been thinking they should do the ten International style dances, then have American Smooth and salsa in the semi-final, with Argentine Tango (scored) instead of Viennese Waltz in the final. That sends us back to 14 couples. It'd add a LOT of interest to the final, give couples a chance to show some originality in the semi-final and ensure nobody has an "unlucky" dance to do, and kinda delineate the ten competitive ballroom dances properly.

Maybe he didn't want to learn it - all the other pros appear to have learned the new dances if and when they need them - why should Brendan be singled out for criticism, especially as he did a good job of it.

I'm just guessing but I've an inkling that DJ doesn't like young Brenda that much.

I must say I don't care that much for the AT. I prefer ballroom tango. It was interesting at first but I don't aspire to be able to do it. It doesn't look like a lot of fun for the average social dancer so it's not on my wish list.

After the first season the novelty value wore off.

Of course there is a MUCH more important reason why Brenda & co might not bother with it. In the semi it's better to have one knock-out dance in case you're in the dance-off rather than two rather good dances. For tactical reasons it's far better to stick to what you know. Had the dance-off occurred this year Brenda might have steered Lisa through on the strength of the foxtrot alone. Waste of time to become proficient in the AT.

It's a reasonable point that all the celebs should have learned (at least) salsa; Brian this year, and Nicole last year, showed us how it's possible for a professional to really make a salsa look good even with a mediocre partner.

The particular problem I had with Brendan is that - on several occasions - he made a big deal of not having taken a single lesson, not having seen it, and not even knowing the embrace - and that was when interviewed on ITT, so it wasn't an external narrative.

His "narrative" for that story was clearly the "Beginner against the world champion", playing the expectations game.

So he's the one who deliberately made a big deal of his total ignorance. And all I'm asking is, why should he be so ignorant?

It's just Brenda.
The world's against him. Didn't you know?
He has to have something to bleat about - he's just that kind of person.

I suspect that leaving the salsa out from the early weeks would reduce the ratings - or at least, the muppets running the production job think that's the case, because they're, well, muppets.

Cor, those were the days, huh?