IAN HYLAND
on last night’s telly
There was an interesting new take on the TV dating game on Channel 4 last night. Ashley Banjo wanted to find out whether two strangers could fall passionately in love purely through the act of dancing together.
Well, I say new take. However, that rather ignores the fact that BBC1 has been running a celebrity version on Saturday nights every autumn since 2004.
The difference is that while on Strictly Come Dancing it’s called a curse, here it’s possibly the sweetest thing you’ll see on TV outside of The Undateables.
Don’t get me wrong. Just like Dirty Dancing, it is cheesy as hell. Luckily,
it repeats that movie’s trick of being so romantic and uplifting that you find yourself tolerating the cheese – and in some cases, embracing it.
My only criticism would be that two couples per hour is not enough. Ashley and his team spent far too long on backstories and dance routine rehearsals.
All we really wanted to see was a) the couples actually performing the routine he had devised for them and b) whether
they would show up for a second date to meet properly. I wasn’t sure about the romance stats either – especially the one that claimed “on average people fall in love seven times before getting married”.
I mean, as I was waiting for my wife to arrive at the church I did clock one or two beautiful friends of hers in the congregation that I’d never met before.
Seven is pushing it though.
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Well I say new... BBC1 has been running a celebrity version on Saturday nights every autumn since 2004