Plenty of glitz, gossip and gaffes on a Strictly need-to-know basis
WE’VE had the launch show but with the competition not starting until next weekend, the schedules saw a big Strictly- shaped hole that needed to be plugged.
While Strictly The Professionals (BBC1) may only have been there as a sparkly filler, it ended up being a rather entertaining programme that gave the professional dancers a chance to tell their stories.
We learnt that, even though reigning champion Kevin Clifton may now be one of the most popular dancers, he failed two previous auditions. While producers snapped up his then wife Karen, they didn’t want poor Kev who, at the time, was a goth with stringy, dyed, black hair and eyeliner.
Now a fixture on the show, he was called out by other dancers as one of the most ambitious and pushy when it came to securing the best celebrity partner.
Height matching plays a part but producers also make the celebrities and dancers take part in a ballroom version of speed dating. Each dancer performs a salsa and a waltz with each celebrity to see who has the most sizzling chemistry.
Last year Kevin and fellow dancer AJ Pritchard battled to get Stacey Dooley. Kevin won that one and, as they are now a real-life couple, there’s no questioning the chemistry.
Dancers Gorka Marquez and Giovanni Pernice both spoke about finding love on the show, although the issue of Katya Jones, Seann Walsh and that drunken kiss was glossed over.
One person Katya did have great chemistry with was Ed Balls. Their salsa to Gangnam Style will go down as one of the show’s most memorable dances. Former MP Ed said: ‘I wanted to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. I was 49 and about to dive, live on television, through the legs of a 28-year- old Russian professional dancer.’
Ann Widdecombe appeared as part of a line-up of calamitous dancers dubbed Anton’s Angels who had teamed up with Anton du Beke. Nancy Dell’Olio and Ruth Langsford were the other two. Anton said it was like meeting up with all his ex-wives. ‘If it wasn’t for all of you, I’d just be a world-class dancer,’ he told them.
Maybe it’s because Strictly has become such a big part of our lives — or maybe it’s because the dancers are now more famous than half of the celebrities — but the show was a charming warm-up for the main event. One person who can’t stand Strictly is Stephen Fry. He was a guest on the first episode of a new series of The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV).
Revelling in his role as the nation’s clever clogs, he was on there to plug his latest tour where he tells stories about Greek gods and heroes.
Meanwhile, Ross was having trouble getting his other guests to tell any stories at all.
As Lady Mary and the Countess of Grantham in the new Downton movie, Michelle Dockery and Elizabeth McGovern had very little to say.
At the start of the show, when it was revealed that Ross had seven guests to cram into an hour, it seemed like too many. By the end it felt like he could have done with seven more.
His opening segment, where he showed pictures of sleeping dogs from the internet, ended up being the most thrilling part of the programme.
With decades of experience, he’s a funny and charismatic host but a chat show needs chatty guests.
With a 14-week run, the series needs to do something to make that sofa more entertaining — unless the guests are all saving themselves for Graham Norton, whose BBC1 show returns in a couple of weeks. CHRISTOPHER STEVENS is away.
EPIC FAIL OF THE WEEKEND: Jeremy Clarkson said Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? should be renamed Dumb Britain after five contestants in a row failed. He suggested they had given away so little cash, they could afford to scrap the ads.