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Strictly 2017: Who are this year's contestants?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/strictly-2017-years-contestants

Jonnie Peacock, Alexandra Burke and Debbie McGee complete Strictly Come Dancing 2017 line-up

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/08/21/jonnie-peacock-alexandra-burke-debbie-mcgee-complete-strictly/

Ha, Tighty doing his bit to lure Tal Bloke back.

Tal's like a wily old pike at the bottom of the lake who's seen off innumerable lures in the last six months or so.

Strictly Come Dancing 2017 premiere and red carpet launch, in pictures

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/08/28/strictly-come-dancing-2017-premiere-red-carpet-launch-pictures

launch show tomorrow

all the contestants ranked

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/07/strictly-come-dancing-2017-all-the-contestants-ranked?CMP=twt_gu

first impressions?

i think jonnie and oti will be extremely popular with the voters

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJTRAwMV4AEOgyL.jpg)

Strictly's Craig Revel Horwood says same-sex couples soon to join show

https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/strictly-come-dancing-judge-craig-revel-horwood-says-he-thinks-there-will-be-samesex-couples-on-next-a3631981.html

Think Jonnie wins if he can show some progression by about week 6.  Pairing him with Oti is excellent for his chances, she has a real reputation as a task master and last year showed she can really put a dance together.
Happy to oppose Alexander and Mollie.
Gemma is interesting, seemed very flat footed in the group dance but her personality may be enough to keep her going until the business end of the comp.  Have had a small dabble to keep some interest.

Watched first steps on the iPlayer.

Alexandra should be favourite based on that (impressed with her frame and feet; expect public support).

Davood (very nice balance) and Gemma (excellent hip action; will grow under the best teacher) both more likely than Mollie (who doesn't look very coordinated in her weight) and Johnny (who surely must have some physical limitations in latin and has a sprinter's bottom in ballroom).

I do expect Johnny to surprise a lot of people as he will have a good range of movement but I have to question him being the same price as Davood (whose partner is a 10-dance champion, which means she is good at both disciplines) and shorter than Joe McFadden (Katya is an excellent teacher).

Conley now 100/1 as his training footage is terrible but I am certain they haven't shown the best footage deliberately. Can't be worse than Richard Coles. He has been training a lot and the publicity machine is very much in force, going by the papers. He will surely get votes for the first couple of weeks? The 320 and 300 have gone from the exchange. Silly price.

I was watching the six o clock news last night. Fiona Bruce

6.20pm a five minute,no exaggeration,feature on Peacock and strictly

the BBC would desperately like him to go deep. feelgood story.

i still think he might be a very good thing in this, publicity like that produced by the BBC is priceless.

obviously he has to reach some sort of standard to justify that, but i also think Oti is incredibly popular (and good)

Will he be touring though?

My bets at the prices are Davood and Gemma.

Was that some good old fashioned racism from the BBC?

I don'tknow the intricacies of dancing but to my the lady that went looked far better than Brian Connelly was was like Dad Dancing on Roids.

No. Best dancer of the two won.

BBC don't do racism. You only have to look at the news presenters roster to see that.

Stupid statement that adds to the general feeling in society that when a black person loses out in life, it's because everyone is racist

Always a surprise early. Davood is my dark horse to win.

Still is.

full song list for this weekend http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/4eb4b4b8-7ba5-4bad-87e7-42630becf214 …

That isn't too bad. I've seen far worse song collections.

Some Strictly jives for you all:

Shirley Ballas and her former partner/husband:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHlTvYHhvM

(Pretty sure some of the moves aren't in the textbook)


Neil and Katya Jones do a fun one:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NijG5kXyXP4


Nadiya can jive too:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ywG7GAm7dY

All the Halloween songs and dances http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/c48f9a64-3da9-4e4a-9d9f-4f16717455af

Ugh.

Have to suspend rational assessments in Halloween week, sadly. Some proper dross there.

Anyone got thoughts on the outright market at this stage?

We are on Davood who is currently progressing up the outside coming round the home turn.Hoping he stays the second half of the week

Debbie McGee is a trained former ballet dancer and owner of a dance school (a ringer,basically) and is seriously over-marked by fawning judges. 4 x 10 yesterday for something quite normaland not particularlyspecial imo

I think the public may well take against her (final is all public vote) as they have done in prior years by voting for the non dance trained popular celeb eg last year

odds will be back up after tonight'selimination

Alex fave? then McGee?

Aston was 100/1 to be eliminated from #Strictly this week

So the market currently is:

6/4 Debbie
9/4 Alexandra
7/1 Gemma
8/1 Joe
20/1 Mollie
22/1 Jonnie
22/1 Davood
100/1 Susan
150/1 Ruth

https://www.oddschecker.com/tv/strictly-come-dancing/winner

Debbie

Her ringerness is nowhere near as bad as her overmarking. On her toes for significant portions of her tango and struggling with her head movement in the staccato parts (reliable guide for viewers: if it looks weird, something has probably gone wrong). The judges have fawned over her performances in a way I've never seen before at this stage of the competition. It was a reasonable tango but 34 would have been a much fairer reflection of it than 40. Seems little doubt she is wanted in the final.

http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/875896/Strictly-Come-Dancing-2017-James-Jordan-blasts-Craig-Revel-Horwood-bow-Debbie-McGee

Alexandra

A similar story. On her heels for chunks of her cha cha, which is normally pounced upon by the judges. She had bent legs but was told instead they were straight. Tens were absurd. It was honestly like someone putting Son's finish yesterday in for goal of the month: it was a nice finish but no more.

Conspiracy theorists will also enjoy that Alexandra has been on the West End and then on tour with Sister Act. Who is the director? One C. Revel-Horwood, if you please. She’s been good enough to stay in the competition, so I don’t really have concerns about that side of it, but the degree of praise of her – and the relentless blind eyes to her faults – is becoming a hot topic at Tal Towers. It might have been just me, but I thought the faces behind Alexandra were a little sceptical of the marking.

Gemma

I’m a big fan of Aljaz – he’s good in both disciplines and is also a very good coach. Consistently gets the best out of his partners and we’re seeing much more of his personality this year. Marriage hasn’t slowed him down. Gemma is a tomboy, so she has been having difficulty being girly; certainly seems insecure. Abbey Clancy had that trouble early on, but grew into the role and ended up winning. Who was her partner again? I have concerns over Gemma’s popularity (she’s had her haters over the years), but her consistent mid-ranking hasn’t seemed to been a problem for her, so I’m taking from this that she gets votes – at least a reasonable number, anyway.

Joe

Joe is also a little unpolished in his work, but he’s grown enormously in confidence. Again, he is blessed with a brilliant partner in Katya. She and Neil (the ginger one) are a superb addition to the show. Katya’s choreography has enabled Joe to develop, with increasingly more challenging routines and more polished performances. His price is a little short for now, as tends to be the case after a Charleston. But I would have given that a higher mark than the 36 they got. He’s not being mentioned much by the judges in any serious way. This could be a sign he’s not on the tour (we all know that’s a factor as to who makes the final). I like him. He will continue to get better. The question is whether he can get better quickly enough.

Mollie

The only way she can win is if she’s popular. She is not close to being the best dancer and her partner is the worst professional dancer by a distance. Making the dance off twice in a row (when there is usually a post-dance-off bounce) is a sign the Sequinned Grim Reaper is sharpening his glittery scythe. We’ve also seen the public going mad about the decision of Shirley Ballas to keep her in (one paper spotted AJ was at her dance school), though I actually had the result of that as fair. She took too small steps, particularly on quicks, and it hurt her balance, because she was frequently in the wrong position. That’s why it looked awkward. She has maybe two weeks left.

Jonnie

Let’s cut to the chase: it’s a decent year and he has no chance of winning on dancing alone. He doesn’t have a hip action and certain dances will continue to hurt him. I have no idea how hard it is for him to achieve what he needs to do in order to get up to standard, but the reality is he’s one of the worst left, embarrassingly overmarked and it is nearing his natural exit time. He’s an inspirational figure and clearly popular with both his peers and the audience. But I don’t see him winning.

Davood

The same price as Jonnie is Davood. I thought the American Smooth on Saturday was excellent. The clip before was very interesting: he’s been on a strict regime of footwork and it paid off bigtime. The quality of his heels is as good as I’ve seen in the competition: it’s easy to forget to do them, firstly, or, if you do remember, it’s easy to overstate them and make it look forced. If you get them right, you generate rise and fall (dip into the heel and push off on the second step to get vertical lift through the body onto the toe). He got that well. His quicks were a little short at times, where the strides should all be the same length (that’s hard to do; even harder with grace), but he was undoubtedly undermarked. His price at 22/1 is – if this were a fair fight – bonkers. Even allowing for preference and bias, it’s still probably wrong. I wonder whether there’s an Eastenders problem, given how hard it was for Kellie Bright to progress in the competition (that jitterbug showdance remains my favourite ever and is right up there in the top 3 strictly dances of all time). He's a good'n.

Susan

I know some have backed her as a live outsider. There were worse bets than that out there at the time. I don’t see her improving much and this is a strong series. Kevin has worked her hard and I really enjoyed this weekend’s choreography from a technical standpoint (without going mad on the technical side, there are different levels of standard for amateurs, a little like martial arts. Kevin designed a routine that was basic and gave Susan a chance of doing a simple routine well, which was the right thing to do, even giving four or five pauses for her to get her breath back). I can’t see her winning still, though I have no doubt she’s popular with the viewers.

Ruth

The comedy stylings of Anton du Beke have a strictly shelf life. I did chuckle at this one, but it can’t be long, can it?

Aston

I’d best say something on the result last night. There’s often a shock these days around this time. Pixie Lott went after a creaky cha-cha with poor legs (the judges do see this stuff...I keep telling myself). Janette made a big error with this routine and Aston’s footwork was poor. He barely smiled during the entire thing and I noted that Darcey picked up on that: you should smile during ballroom dances (tango aside); it conveys you’re comfortable and at ease, even though the dance is anything but. It was a poor and boring routine, which was executed badly. He was in trouble from the moment he started in hold. He knew that, too; he wasn’t angry at the comments or even surprised; just disappointed. I suspect he knew that was as good a job as he could have done with that. Was he dealt a bum hand with the music? Possibly.

Overall

I am a convert to the idea that it’s a TV show and the BBC are keen to ensure certain things happen for as long as possible, even if this conflicts with what is “right” in the competition. I note there are now 3 men and 6 women left. Joe and Davood should get time if they don’t have a rotten dance, while the women (presumably Mollie and Ruth) head off. Blackpool is 18 November, so that should time nicely for Ruth/Anton or Susan/Kevin to head off, head held high.

The comments on the articles last night about the shock result indicate Alexandra and Debbie are developing noisy opponents in the chat boxes. I expect this to continue and the current prices for both are too short. The only way they wouldn’t be is if they’re guaranteed a passage to the final.

Hope this answers your question, Keith.

Great stuff Tal.

You fanced Davood at a big price early on and still do now. In my experience of reality puntering, these are the golden spots. You're probably right and eventually the market will catch up, so smash it imo.

Is there likely to be an anti-Eastenders bias on a BBC1 show? Seems unlikely as an outsider looking in. Bearing in mind how many rofflechavs in this country still only watch one channel. The Bake Off sayed they'd be happy with 4m viewers on 4 when it left BBC1, where it got millions more. Apparently there are that many who can't switch their TVs over in 2017.

Is there a possilibity of an anti X Factor bias? Would make more sense. Have X Factorers done much in this down the years?

Can still get EW three spots too. With a 3:6 men to women ratio, this looks too good to miss.

As a relatively late convert to SCD ..entertainment rather than puntering,   I love these write ups..more please

Great stuiff.

Like Timeform for a poncy novelty talent show.

Thanks Mr Chess.

What a great write up that is.

Take note, Marcus Hilton.


 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94JbmwxOy_0

Good lad, Davood.

Legogogo!

The lad done well.  I did try and back him again whilst he was dancing, but was too slow.  At last he is shorter than the first price I took.  33s long gone too.

Alex very good again.

Mollie doesn't seem to be taking it well.  I think she is still pretty likely to be bottom two again. 

Yeah. Shame for her, but she's not improved as much as the others.

Nice write up Tal. What do you think of the 11/1 top 3 1/5? 8 runners but I'm sure we could discount a few of those. Slightly better price than bf.

I'd like to oppose Debbie and Alexandra, but I am not sure most of the rest are popular enough.  If those two make it and the bottom three are write offs, you are betting 7/5, 7/5, 11/5 that 3rd place.  Given what happened to Anton, neither can be a lock, but those pricrs don't scream value.  I think 7/5 Joe must be better than 11/5 Davood as he has just been more popular throughout.   

Thanks Doobs

Alex and Gorka will Quickstep to The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re In The Money) from ‘42nd Street’

Debbie and Giovanni perform the Samba to Spice Girls Medley (Wannabe / Who Do You Think You Are)

Gemma and Aljaz dance the American Smooth to Downtown by Petula Clark

Mollie and AJ will perform the Charleston to Wings by Little Mix

Susan and Kevin Paso Doble to Scott & Fran’s Paso Doble from ‘Strictly Ballroom’

Davood and Nadiya will also Paso Doble to Live And Let Die by Paul McCartney and Wings

Joe and Katya dance the Salsa to Ride On Time by Black Box

Jonnie and Oti will Tango to Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics


I'll say more on the significance of the Blackpool Tower Ballroom later in the week, when time permits.

Fair to say some have lucked out with the music (Alex, Jonnie) and some have not (Mollie, Gemma). Lord only knows what the producers were smoking when they decided on Little Mix.

Debbie's got an odd draw, too. It could work, with the girl power angle, but neither of those songs is a samba (where Spice Up Your Life is, queerly).

Only two traditional, strict tempo songs, which is disappointing.

Kevin said he'd been hoping to do this dance for years and has finally been allowed the chance by the Strictly Suits. Frankly, I am smiling already at the prospect of that.

Early prediction without seeing any training video: Jonnie bests Mollie in a dance off, by majority vote.

Any value in Davood to be top man at 2/1?

Basically needs to beat Joe who is 4/5.

Of the two, I prefer his price, but Joe has been popular, I think. The 2/1 top man aligns with the 10/1 to win with 3 places 1/5. Probably not massively out of line; these are the two best outsiders.

Susan Calman and Jonnie Peacock confirmed for the tour. Any others?

Seasoned Strictlyites will already be familiar with the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. It used to be where the final was held.

There are two significant differences.

The first is the size of the floor. It's huge. Much bigger than the Elsteee studio they're used to. Amateur dancers take much smaller steps than professionals. Next time the pros do their dance, notice how well they cover the floor. All the celebs will struggle to get around the floor, so the couples will be getting backing dancers and props, so that they don't look dwarfed by the expanse of the ballroom floor. In short, it masks the inadeqacies of the amateurs, so when you hear "you looked like a professional" groin the cooing judges, feel free to shout a disapproving vulgarity at the screen.

The second thing is the springiness of the floor. This is the ultimate test of technique. If you have your foot in the wrong place, in ballroom or latin, you will suffer markedly. The spring finds you out. You will see people not travelling in ballroom and readjusting their feet when planted in latin and losing hip action. It's simply impossible to cover things up and I expect the public to have a better idea of who's good...if they're watching the dancing.

Top: Alexandra has had the nut draw on music and dance. She's very likely to be in the top two or three.

Surprise package: Watch out for Gemma, whose frame is much, much better than when she started. Her training footage showed lovely heel turns and impeccable footwork. She needs to relax but I think she might surprise a few tonight.

Bottom: Jonnie has bottom issues of another kind. His sticks out. He can't help it, but he has sprinter's bum and it'll be a problem in the tango tonight. I am not expecting good things.

Possible joiner: Joe doesn't look good in training. I'm hoping his salsa will be better than that. I expect him to have good footwork, but this is hardly the dance you want on a week where everything is very exposed.

Predictions

- Debbie will disappoint with a low 30s score.
- Davood's Paso (which is too quick) be overshadowed by the extreme campness of Susan's, though he will score higher
- Mollie will get enough public votes to avoid the dance off. She can swivel and the judges will be kinder.

Anyone else back Gemma to get the highest score tonight?

I got 7/1, though suspect others might have done better.

So close.

I thought she was very good.  I was quite suprised Alexandra didn't get 40.  I was pretty sure when watching, I thought she was pretty good.  Davood also looked very goodf again.  Joe looked all over the place to me.

Have you noticed how the bookies are now suspending the betting from the Saturday show until Sunday.  Betfair have suspended for a long time.  Bookies get the opportunity to bet on something when people can't arb easily, and we all have a level playing field, and have chosen to duck it.   Pretty much shows that these days they are more reliant on the betfair market than the likes of us.  It is probably best to suspend between 10 and 12 on a Saturday night, but there is no excuse to not be betting righrt now.

Completely agree on the bookies, although granted I avoid that part of oddschecker like the plague on Sundays.

I wish there were the markets there used to be a few years ago with other bookies (highest score, some individual score markets, bottom score). We could have had some fun with that this year.

Alexandra should have got 40 really. It's a world of difference, though, getting a correctly timed, appropriate song in ballroom dress and with everything in your favour, to getting to salsa to a 90s house tune in tracky bottoms or having to paso to a song that's too quick or doing a samba to two spice girls songs that aren't sambas, or a tango to a song with a beat so pronounced an amateur is always going to stomp a little.

What irks me more than anything about that is she's the best dancer in the competition and doesn't need any help. The tears were back last night, though. It's not endearing, even if genuine. It does seem certain now that she makes the final. But it's far from certain she wins: the ability to choose what you do gives the advantage to the best choreographers and coaches. Gorka hasn't impressed me much, though he's done little wrong. Nadiya has been aggressive, Giovanni has more experience and Katya is a known excellent, imaginative choreographer. Then there's Aljaž, who's been there and done it. And the public of course.

Davood and Gemma have absolutely outstanding fundamentals. They're being taught to dance, which means they can apply themselves in any situation. It was noticeable how far Gemma travelled. She's tall, but she stepped out and drove off on the first beat of the bar (well, slightly off it, as you do in foxtrot). Jonnie in comparison couldn't do that because his frame and posture won't allow it.

The gulf is pretty clear now. Joe gets a mulligan this week, assuming he survives. He won't have to worry about salsa again.

I spoke in the post above about fundamentals. Saturday was a real showcase for that.

Davood did a difficult waltz well and made it look easy. His footwork was impeccable. The frame was solid but not great on occasion (the odd raising of shoulder and lowering of elbow), and he sometimes had his head slightly wrong. But the core elements of dance were good and he learned the routine very well.

Joe is similar. I tend to find the quickstep to be an easy week for the more competent dancers. That's not to say it's easy. Just that flying round the floor and doing some kicks here and there means you have to worry less about the balance and poise of the slower ballroom dances. He was brilliant, though. Better than Alexandra last week.

Alexandra hasn't done the basics to the same extent as those two.  I spoke before about her bent legs in latin. They were the same this week, only the judges commented on it, too. It'll be her undoing because the public aren't mugs.

Mollie has improved. She's behind the other 5 but she's done well in difficult circumstances, as it's clear she's not been popular with the public.

Seems certain...surely...that it's time for Susan to go.

Davood and Nadiya perform an Argentine Tango to The Phantom Of The Opera from The Phantom Of The Opera

Joe and Katya will Samba to Money Monday from Cabaret

Alexandra and Gorka dance the Charleston to Supercalifragilistic from Mary Poppins

Debbie and Giovanni perform an American Smooth to Memory from Cats

Gemma and Aljaz will Quickstep to Hello Dolly! from Hello Dolly!

Mollie and AJ dance the Rumba to I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserablés



Interestingly, some outlets have Mollie dancing to Hopelessly Devoted to You from Grease. As we all know, that's the worst song in Grease. Even worse than Beauty School Dropout. So I believe there's been an objection there somewhere.

Have to say, this looks like a classic week. Before looking at the training footage, expect Alexandra to top the leaderboard, if she doesn't do her pigeon toe thing.

Davood is the third celeb to get the AT. Other two got 38. No pressure lad.

Gemma has lovely feet but might struggle a touch with her head and frame in quickstep. Judges will be clinical if she isn't.

At any stage do the couples pick their own dances / music?

In the final, they usually get the chance to pick one of the dances they've done previously (format tends to get tinkered with each year).

The showdance also happens in the final. That's any song and any dance, with no rules (doesn't have to be ballroom or latin).

 

Theresa May says she is "cheering on Debbie".

I'm not entirely convinced that will aid Miss McGee's cause, to be honest.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42190162

Judges agree.

She nearly fell over at the start and made a mistake after the standing spins at the end, but the fab four at the helm gave nothing but fawning gush.

The rest of the dance was nice, but 39 is a farce.

They noticed Davood making the same error of course.

Certain that they're protecting Debbie and Alexandra.

Joe was magnificent. An incredible routine.

Davood did struggle with balance, but his strength is phenomenal for a non-dancer. He's going to have to do it again tomorrow night, I suspect. And do it better.

My guess would be against Mollie, as I hope the public realise Gemma was very harshly marked.

This year's StrictlyComeDancing has enjoyed the biggest average audience in the show's history.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/strictly-come-dancing-smashes-own-ratings-record-36410156.html

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRE5j1zX0AE30tc.jpg)

Note to self:

It is ok to do an American Smooth without a single step in ballroom hold. You can score 40.

Alexandra not coming across well. Can't imagine she gets public support.

Debbie: brutal from the judges to give her a salsa. Hardest dance for a woman. She was all over the place in the middle. Not getting through the floor and figure 8 rotation. Weak. Flat back and stumbly off the lifts. Still 8s and 9s though. It was good.

Alexandra meanwhile got an easy draw. Judges still fawning over their favourite two, mind.

Gemma: so, so good. That's as good a paso as I've seen on Strictly. Incredible power and storytelling.

Contender?

Joe: such a shame about the end, where he made a mistake. It was a nice dance, but not particularly well executed dance.

The fleckerl was very nice: he danced it around Katya, which was clever choreography.

His floor coverage is astonishing.

Judges not mentioning mistakes tonight then!

Debbie's showdance is going to take some beating

Wowzers

Joe nailed it.

A

May

Zing.

Charleston to come.

Public, get voting.

Big mistake for Alexandra to jive.

She isn't as good as the finalists who've won win jives:

- Jill Halfpenny
- Jay McGuinness
- Ore Oduba

World of difference in the weight position and leg retraction.

The public can see through this rubbish, judges.

Sad thing is she's the best overall dancer in the competition.

Would be far more fun if it got to the end and Bruno just went 7.

Joe absolutely nailed that last dance. I'd need an eleven.

Gemma could have gone close here.

40 on betfair.

meh, hope Alexandra wins.

On tonight:

Joe
Gemma
Debbie
Alexandra

Very little between all four, but Joe did two sensational dances tonight. His best is better than Alexandra's best. Debbie maybe dance of the night with the Argentine Tango but Gemma's Paso...

Been a very good final, though I'd prefer it if we didn't have four of them doing three dances.

And all that XFactor guff in between...

Underwhelmed.

There was no Ore Jive, Tom Chambers showdance, Ramprakash showdance moment tonight, but the overall quality was as good as any final. Must be close to the best.

Let's not forget we've seen some pretty average performances in finals. No one did a bad dance.