Midweek Update
McFlying Low?
Are McFly in need of the oxygen of publicity? Given that I wouldn’t have recognised one of them from another prior to the start of Strictly, and also given that I avoid on principle watching I’m A Celebrity… (ITV puts THAT on in the same timeslot as Downton??), it’s only quite recently that I realised a second McFly was taking the reality TV show dollar, in the form of bass player Dougie. Which presumably explains why he’s not been in the audience supporting Harry. It does make you wonder whether they actually flipped a coin to see who would do what. Although given that Harry did the Strictly Children in Need special last year, I imagine Dougie was happy to eat creepy crawlies as that wouldn’t involve dressing in lycra and spandex and huge amounts of fake tan. Still, it makes you wonder what will be next? Will one of the other two do Celebrity Masterchef? Actually, that’s an interesting thought…who would be more scary to face, the Strictly judges, or John Torode and Gregg Wallace? Whatever though, it’s probably The Barrowman’s fault.
It’s Christmas!! (Again)
Once again, the Christmas special this year will feature not previous contestants, but a whole new gaggle of celebs. You may remember my excitement last year when I learned that The Barrowman was going to appear, as he is a total Strictly Superfan (and I’m a total Barrowman Superfan). Alas, there’s no one in this year’s five person line up to get my juices flowing to quite the same degree, as we have Barry McGuigan (with Erin), Su Pollard (with Anton), Simon Webbe (with Katya), Debra Stephenson (with Ian) and Charlie Brooks (with Vincent). What can we take from this line up? To be honest, not a lot, with one exception. You may recall Let’s Dance for Sport Relief in 2010, in which Debra Stephenson did a very passable attempt at mimicking Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, which is not an easy routine to learn. Evidently she has an eye for choreography and can pick things up well. We’ll see how it goes.
“BBC announce new line-up for Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special”
Strictly – It’s Infectious
I told you it would happen – following her star turn on the Children in Need special, where Robin commented on her excellent hip action, Head Judge Len declared “tutti frutti, what a booty”, and even Judge Craig praised her booty shaking, Susanna Reid has apparently said that she’d love to do Strictly next year, and is even prepared to deal with the difficulty of getting from Salford to London to do it. For those unaware, BBC Breakfast is moving to MediaCityUK next year, and the likelihood is that Sian Williams, who is currently the main female presenter, will not move to Salford, and Susanna, who is the main weekend presenter, may well take her place. Nevertheless, she seems excited about the idea of doing the full series:
It would be a dream come true. It would be challenging but everyone I’ve spoken to really loves it. I think Anita Dobson wants to be a professional ballroom dancer now!
Given that Harry took the path from Children in Need to the main series, what price Susanna doing the same? Bets now being taken on which of the professionals she’ll be partnered with. And it probably wouldn’t be Robin.
“Susanna Reid has the Strictly Come Dancing Bug”
What’s a man to do?
The battle for Christmas ratings is getting nasty. Clearly, Auntie Beeb, flushed with the success of their battle with The Other Side, now feel they can take on anyone, while ITV are feeling battered and bruised. But they do have another weapon in their armoury, a weapon of nuclear proportions that evidently they aren’t afraid to use. Thus, on Christmas Day, it seems we will have Strictly going head to head with Downton Abbey. You’ll all be aware by now how much I love Strictly. You may be less aware of how much I love Downton. A friend of mine commented on the number of increasingly camp tweets I sent out on a Sunday night while glued to ITV1 (to which she subsequently asked “How on Earth are you not gay??”). As a consequence, I will be in the most awful quandry as to what to watch and what to record. All I can say is thank goodness for the video recorder.
“Can Downton shoot down Strictly this Christmas? ITV and BBC go head-to-head on the big day”
Weekly Odds
Harry Judd – 11/10
Jason Donovan – 5/2
Chelsee Healey – 11/4
Holly Valance – 16/1
Robbie Savage – 25/1
Alex Jones – 25/1
Anita Dobson – 100/1
Classic Strictly
It’s fair to say that Anton hasn’t had the best of it, partnerwise, the last couple of years. What with Nancy this year, and Ann Widdecombe last year, he’s pretty much had to play up the comedy element owing to the fact that the ladies he’s been partnered with have been, as Judge Craig might put it, “dance disarrrrrrsters”. Could this be traced back to his unfortunate ability to open his mouth without engaging his brain first? You’ll probably recall that two years ago, he made what he thought was an innocent remark about his partner Laila Rouass’ appearence while covered in the ubiquitous fake tan. Of course, it wasn’t an innocent remark, it upset Laila and caused a massive furore in the media and the public, and has probably left Anton in the doghouse with the producers as far as getting decent partners is concerned. The irony of it is that in Laila he actually had a genuine shot at winning the thing (they eventually finished fourth). Their stand out routine would have to be the charleston, in which (and I’ll never forget this) Zandra Rhodes described her as looking like “Cleopatra in a Speakeasy“. So, here we have Laila Rouass and Anton du Beke dancing the Charleston.
