Strictly’s best ever dance will never be
If you didn’t immediately grasp that Strictly Come Dancing had just made the biggest mistake in its history then one look at the faces of the professional dancers and you knew. Several had tears streaming down their cheeks. That same shock and distress was felt across the country on Sunday night when JLS star Aston Merrygold, a dead cert for the final, and his partner Janette Manrara were eliminated in favour of Mollie King and AJ Pritchard, for whom this was a second appearance in the dance-off.
At Pearson Towers, great was the gnashing of teeth and the hurling of oaths at certain judges who shall remain nameless. Craig and Shirley. To give non-strictly fans some idea of the disbelief, it was as if Red Rum had been disqualified from the Derby and a donkey from Skegness sands allowed to take its place.
Mollie is a sweet person, but a floppity Woodentop on the dance floor. Only firm steering by AJ – the female celebs always have that advantage – enabled her to produce a pleasant enough foxtrot. But she is not a favourite with the public and, quite frankly, her time was up.
Aston, by contrast, is poetry in motion. He has that kind of compact, lithe build that makes for an explosive elasticity. His paso doble on Hallowe’en blew the roof off, as well as the judges’ minds, so what went wrong?
Conspiracy theories abound. Did Strictly producers want a woman to win this year so they had to get rid of Aston who, as Craig said, was “the one to beat” so that Debbie Mcgee can claim the Glitterball trophy? Why did Craig give Aston and Janette a four when he awarded that same mark to Ruth and Anton who actually fell over? Which evil genius thought it was a good idea to let Aston dance a Viennese Waltz with a Michael Jackson theme, wholly unsuitable music and an Afro for crying out loud?
Whatever the reason, Aston, who had amassed 192 points across the season so far (his nearest rival is Alexandra Burke on 190), was punished harshly by the judges at the first opportunity. The same judges who regularly turn a blind eye to glaring faults in much less talented celebrities.
So Strictly fans like me, who assumed that Aston’s place in the final was a done deal – how could he NOT be there? – didn’t bother voting for him. His fate was sealed.
I blame Craig for his spiteful 4. And Shirley Ballas, who should have used her casting vote as head judge to save the dancer who would have been beyond spectacular in the final. Not to save, on some technical nicety, a celeb who will be lucky to limp on another week.
BBC licencefee payers can be justifiably angry that we will never see the jive Aston and Janette had planned for Blackpool. It could easily have been the best Strictly dance ever.
Several people I know have said that they are not watching the show again in protest. I have a better idea. Perhaps Mollie could twist her ankle – these things do happen – and regretfully withdraw.
How marvellous if perhaps the most gifted performer in 13 years of Strictly could live to dance another day.