BBC Strictly 2021

[Ian Macmillan]

Anne: Many thanks - that looks as good an explanation as any!  So, as I see it, such a system could mean that, in the early stages of the series with a high number of participants, a strong public score could affect things more readily than later on.  But much would still depend on how closely the judges have marked those remaining?  Mathematicians to the fore, please!

[AnneMarriott]

4 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Anne: Many thanks - that looks as good an explanation as any!  So, as I see it, such a system could mean that, in the early stages of the series with a high number of participants, a strong public score could affect things more readily than later on.  But much would still depend on how closely the judges have marked those remaining?  Mathematicians to the fore, please!

I'm far from being a mathematician but I do recall that the judges' scores carry an equal weighting to the public vote.  I wonder if they somehow translate the judges' scores into a similar scale to the public vote, so that the couple with the highest judges' score would get a mark equal to the number of couples in the competition and so on down the leaderboard.  Not sure if that would answer your point, but it would certainly make the 50-50 weighting more clear.  Pure conjecture of course!

[bangorballetboy]

29 minutes ago, AnneMarriott said:

I'm far from being a mathematician but I do recall that the judges' scores carry an equal weighting to the public vote.  I wonder if they somehow translate the judges' scores into a similar scale to the public vote, so that the couple with the highest judges' score would get a mark equal to the number of couples in the competition and so on down the leaderboard.  Not sure if that would answer your point, but it would certainly make the 50-50 weighting more clear.  Pure conjecture of course!

 

That's right but worth noting that if there is a tie when the judges' and public's scores are added together, the couple with the better public vote score is placed higher.

[AnneMarriott]

23 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

That's right but worth noting that if there is a tie when the judges' and public's scores are added together, the couple with the better public vote score is placed higher.

Aha! Now that makes sense of my gut feeling that the public vote is ultimately decisive despite the 50-50 weighting.  Thank you for clarifying.

[Legseleven]

And the final is, I think, decided on public votes alone.

[Jan McNulty]

We're at the sharp end of the competition now and I'm finding it hard to predict who will win.

 

I must admit that I was surprised Tilly was voted off on Saturday as the judges have been "bigging her up" for the whole season.

 

Overall I enjoyed the show on Saturday.

[Scheherezade]

On 29/11/2021 at 08:55, Jan McNulty said:

I must admit that I was surprised Tilly was voted off on Saturday as the judges have been "bigging her up" for the whole season.

 

Perhaps they had received so much adverse criticism that they felt they had no choice.

[Jan McNulty]

52 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Perhaps they had received so much adverse criticism that they felt they had no choice.

 

I've not been a huge fan of Tilly but I actually thought she out-performed Rhys in the dance-off.

 

Perhaps she can't do the live tour!

[Jan McNulty]

Wouldn’t it be the perfect outcome for the final if it was a dead heat this year?

 

John/Johannes & Rose/Giovanni have been my favourites since episode 1.

[AnneMarriott]

Well you didn't get your wish, Janet!  I felt so sorry for poor A J and her partner - it would have been a far more exciting final with three contestants battling it out; but Rose deserved to win and John and Johannes were gracious in defeat, so all's well that ends well.  

[Legseleven]

Probably a controversial opinion, but although Rose was an amazing contestant and a worthy winner, I felt she and Giovanni were outdanced last night in all three dances. 

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, AnneMarriott said:

Well you didn't get your wish, Janet!  I felt so sorry for poor A J and her partner - it would have been a far more exciting final with three contestants battling it out; but Rose deserved to win and John and Johannes were gracious in defeat, so all's well that ends well.  

I felt desperately sad for AJ too.  I saw on one report that it will take months for her ruptured ligament to heal.

 

I think the BBC should consider the future direction, especially with COVID.  Perhaps if someone drops out early in the competition as they did this year no one should be eliminated in that week.  This would mean they would still be on target for 4 in the final in case someone else had to drop out.

 

I wonder what they would have been able to do with AJ having to pull out and perhaps with one of the remaining couples having to isolate?

[AnneMarriott]

1 hour ago, Legseleven said:

Probably a controversial opinion, but although Rose was an amazing contestant and a worthy winner, I felt she and Giovanni were outdanced last night in all three dances. 

I actually tend to agree but I feel that Rose gave the better performances over the whole competition.  Of course choice of music, choreography and costumes also play a part in the overall impression - it's all highly subjective.

[Legseleven]

Absolutely - all subjective and it’s my opinion, which is only as valid as the next person’s. Based on last night’s dancing I just felt that John and the - absolutely amazing! - Johannes were more impressive in all 3 dances. And their show dance was exactly that, whereas I felt that Rose and Giovanni’s show dance was very similar in feel to their couple’s choice dance. 
 

[Legseleven]

I also felt that no-one really praised John and Johannes for swapping the lead in their dances - and despite their ‘Jotato Radebe’ fail at the end of the salsa there wasn’t much mention of the feat of John, the untrained dancer, lifting Johannes, who is a similar height.

However, a fabulous final!

[Anna C]

Such a close call, wasn’t it, and I too wished it could be a dead heat with two glitterball winners.  John and Johannes danced their socks off last night, and how wonderful to see John grow in confidence so much that he could really let himself go and perform.  I can’t help thinking that in any other year, John and Johannes would have walked it. 

 

However, for me, Rose has been the better dancer all series, both technically and in terms of expression and musicality.  I think Jason Gilkison was spot on when he said Rose was probably the most “musical” dancer he’d seen (or words to that effect), which is high praise indeed but even more extraordinary when you remember that Rose is deaf.  

 

Kudos to Giovanni too, as he’s had to change and adapt his teaching style completely, within the same timeframe that the other couples have had, and working with Rose seems to have really brought out the best in him.  What a very special partnership theirs has been, certainly one of the most moving and joyous ones I can remember.  

 

So sad for AJ, the final would have been even more exciting with her dancing, but I think the end result would have been the same.

[Scheherezade]

I agree that Rose’s performances over the series as a whole had the edge but John and Johannes were on fire last night. John certainly stepped up to the occasion and then some. 
But the audience choice of winning finalist is, of course, as much an emotional decision as anything else. I think that Rose’s win was pretty much a foregone conclusion and John’s comments before the result was revealed seemed to indicate that he had taken that on board.

It is such a pity that AJ was not able to take part since her best dances would definitely been up there with John and Rose - her Quickstep (which for me was better than Rose’s) and Charleston to name but two. I don’t think, however, that she would have had any more chance of unseating Rose than John did and in all the circumstances, and over the entire run, arise could not be said to be anything less than a worthy winner. 

[Fiz]

My youngest dd said she felt Rose’s show dance had been tailored to pull at the heart strings. I wish both sets of dancers could have won. I do feel as if John and Johannes had the edge last night. A gay friend of mine who loves Strictly said that no gay couple in any of the Strictly franchises has ever won. 

[Scheherezade]

13 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

in all the circumstances, and over the entire run, arise could not be said to be anything less than a worthy winner. 

That should, of course, have read Rose, not arise. Darned autocorrect! 

[LinMM]

Yes John and Johannes were for me definitely the better dancers last night in all three dances however other than having a tie finish if it had to be one couple then  I still wanted Rose and Giovanni to win because I felt that it would mean much more to them somehow ....apart from Rose’s amazing achievement it was nice for Giovanni to finally win it too! 
I certainly thought that inspite of some hiccups on the way the final three were the right ones in the end.....just really sorry for AJ so disappointing for her and for Kai too as his choreography has been so good too. 
Each of these three couples has produced at least two really memorable quality dances over the Competition which has made it so enjoyable this year. 
I think one thing which could be added to the Show is that some spots could be given (as an extra slot) to seeing the actual current reigning ball room champions at the time for different dances. There are different Ballroom Associations so different current champions around but amazing to watch when you find on YouTube etc. 
 

 

[Anna C]

41 minutes ago, Fiz said:

My youngest dd said she felt Rose’s show dance had been tailored to pull at the heart strings. I wish both sets of dancers could have won. I do feel as if John and Johannes had the edge last night. A gay friend of mine who loves Strictly said that no gay couple in any of the Strictly franchises has ever won. 

 

No different to 99% of Couple’s Choice dances though, to be fair - and although I thought Rose’s show dance was beautiful (and played to her strengths, which is the point of the show dance), it was what Rose said afterwards about starting out as a seed that really moved me.  I don’t think Rose needed to “tug at the heartstrings” to clinch the win; for me she has been the best dancer and performer overall throughout the whole series, simple as that.

 

Given the number of complaints that the BBC and OFCOM received after Johaness & Graziano’s same sex dance, then about Nicola and Katya dancing together, the fact that two gay men dancing together got to the final in the first year is groundbreaking and pleasantly surprising.  I think John accepted that as a major win.  If we have another same sex couple in future who are as talented and entertaining as John and Johannes, I really think they will win.  

 

Rose winning does start to even up the gap between men and women winners, which is good - it’s now 11 men, 8 women since the show began.

 

Whether or not we wanted John or Rose (or both) to win, I think we can all agree how much this series has done for diversity and representation for everyone, the disabled or deaf community included.  What an inspiration John and Rose have been. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[LinMM]

Yes both really brave to have committed to this Show in the first place. 
Rose is a real sweetheart and although I usually get annoyed and start shouting at the TV the way they wring every bit of emotion out of it ......” now what have you got to say to Rose” ....for the umpteenth time 😩..... I was genuinely moved by her Show dance comments about being the seed and Strictly was the sun etc and she had now flowered into being more herself. (And some people pay a lot of money to try and find how to be more themselves). You could see she really meant it so that was lovely. 

[LinMM]

Incidentally where was Tilly last night? 

[Fiz]

8 hours ago, LinMM said:

Incidentally where was Tilly last night? 

She’s tested positive for Covid-19.

[Jan McNulty]

The Strictly Christmas Special was huge fun.  I was really pleased Anne-Marie and Graziano raised the trophy!

[LinMM]

If she was in the full competition I think she would go a very long way! 

[Anna C]

19 hours ago, LinMM said:

If she was in the full competition I think she would go a very long way! 

 

I agree - dd and I said she’d be really interesting and entertaining in the main show.  
 

I loved Mel’s street dance too, so funny - glad a “proper” dance won the show though.

[LinMM]

Yes Mel is a good sport and always amusing. 
She was part of some six part woodworking  competition show recently ....Best British woodworker.. or something like that ...and helped to lighten the atmosphere ....can’t believe I’m saying I watched this ...but actually I found it fascinating ...every section would have been a nightmare for somebody like myself though might have been able to have a go at a spoon lol after seeing it demonstrated at a wood working fair in the Leicester Forest (my partners a big fan) I’m sure Mel helped to ease any tension building up anyway.