BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!

Subject: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: rock chick
Date: 19 Nov 08 - 09:53 PM

John Sergeant has left Strictly Come Dancing saying he thought it would be a 'joke too far' if he won. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7737964.stm

Well I thought this was entertainment at it's best, NO he could not dance but I agree with Jeremy Paxman its time the public said to these so called judges we will vote for who WE the public want,, not who you judges tell us or try to influence us to vote for. What qualification do they have for being so extremely insulting to anyone who takes on these challenges anyway, other than total ignorance? They all seem to me to be a bit up their own a…

Yes I know these people put a huge amount of work into learning these dances but isn't this meant to be entertainment for the public.

Well I think its sad he went as that would have said a lot for those two left footed people, and who knows he may have started a new dance craze ;^)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 03:56 AM

Ah, proof, if proof were needed, that we always go for the underdog...

Can't abide the programme meself.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Jeanie
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 04:37 AM

I agree with you, Rock Chick, it's a crying shame that he has felt led to withdraw from the show. If the BBC puts on shows which are open to a public vote, then the BBC must take the consequences and let the public choose all the way.

Shows like this always have the token "ordinary people" in them - (as opposed to the "beautiful people"), to hook in the public and get them watching in the first few weeks. These "ordinary people" are then expected to stay just for the first couple of weeks. I can't help but feel that the programme makers choose to invite such contestants because they can also be a figure of fun in the eyes of some, which I think is despicable.

The great success of John Sergeant in gathering votes week after week must have taken the programme makers totally by surprise. An "ordinary person" was supposed to be out of the game by now ! Now that everything has to be so totally above-board in the BBC as far as counting the public votes are concerned - after the Naming the Blue Peter cat fiasco, amongst others - their only recourse is to manipulate the voting public.

The manipulation against John Sargeant has been particularly nasty, and I don't blame him at all for wanting to be out of it. Reading between the lines of his interview last night on "It Takes Two", I get the feeling that there is a lot more he would like to have said about the vitriol, but he is too much of a gentleman, and he knows that those responsible are making a very good job of showing themselves up in their true colours anyway, without him needing to point it out any more.

As an example of the vitriol: At the end of Saturday's programme, one former contestant urged the public to "vote for the dancing, not for your favourite". His anger and nastiness was plain to see when he said that people were being voted off this show at the expense of someone who should not still be there.

No wonder John Sargeant made his decision to leave yesterday ! Poor man is damned if he did and damned if he didn't: That *very same* nasty contestant had the effrontery to say on TV last night that he "thought it very selfish of John to leave the contest." Nasty, nasty, nasty. John Sergeant is well out of it - and we have all been shown just what those people are like. It is, after all, meant to be harmless family entertainment !! I very much doubt if it can ever re-gain that again, and viewing figures will go down. Maybe this will prove to be the last series of the show. I certainly shall not be watching it.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 04:46 AM

Oh dear, we the public deviated from the script; how sad.
I don't watch it per se, but it is on at the other end of the lounge, so I overhear comments, and I thought Len Goodman was really nasty about John Sergeant. If they want it to be about the dancing, get rid of the celebrities.
Several contestants have exceeded their shelf life on the show, notably those who star in soap operas. It's just that John Sergeant has real charisma, and not just a script written persona.
Hell mend the BBC, it is yet another lesson that they should cater for the viewers, and not themselves.

XG

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: GUEST,BanjoRay
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:14 AM

John Sergeant is a genius. This series, I quickly noticed the psychological warfare JS was using - When Tess Daly talked to the dancers while waiting for the scores, John would come out with a superb one or two liner that would guarantee he'd be voted back. After years of interviewing politicians and spin doctors, the advanced techniques they used have rubbed off on him, and he's brilliant at it. His timing is also superb - he's picked exactly the right time to drop out. This series will be known as the John Sergeant Strictly from now on.
Great stuff.
Ray (non-dancing banjo player)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 07:38 AM

And SCD does distract folks from all the usual trials and tribulations. I read somewhere that the Roman authorities would always put on a few games to keep the starving and disgruntled public from getting out of hand.
Anyway. John Sargeant, gentleman.
Cherie Lunghi, fwoarr!!

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: goatfell
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:17 AM

but please remmber none of the contestants could dance excpets of course the profencials, so how can the 'judges' run the non dancers down, I mean they have at lest 5 days to get the dance as near perfect as possible, and then some of the judges run them down with their smartarse talk.

To me the best dancer and a gentleman has left the building

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: GUEST,stigweard out in the big wide world
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:19 AM

It's a show about dancing, so the judges are right to comment on how shite his dancing is. It's a shame he feels he has to leave, but he signed up for the show in the full knowledge he would be critisied for being rubbish. It's not suprising that a half-witted proportion of the great British public can't even enter into the spirit of the thing and vote for the dances.

If it's simply a popularity contest then you might as well watch Big Brother.

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:27 AM

I think this celebs and experts getting together idea should be extended. First, get rid of those boring professional soccer games and let's see teams comprising of top soccer players and fat newsreaders; secondly, come the Olympics let's get some out of shape celebs mixing it with the world's greatest athletes. I'm sure viewing figures would soar!

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 09:42 AM

I'm with Charlie S re: Cherie , long time fan, sad to see her out. However, as I am to singing what John S is to dancing, It's a shame he's gone. Sad, talentless old gits need fans too!

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: rock chick
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 12:41 PM

Anagram of strictly come dancing =
1) Cold recanting mystic
2) My legs can't...Nod Critic

Anagram of John Sergeant = Hang on Jester

Anagrams of the Judges:

1) Len Goodman .........An Old Gnome
2) Arlene Phillips......Hell's pain peril
3) Bruno Tonioli........O to burn in Oil
4) Craig Revel Horwood..Low Horrid Coverage

rc

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 01:49 PM

I love SCD. It's fun, glamourous and sassy. And, it's great to have a show that the whole family enjoys, again. How did we lose all that?

But this series has unsettled me, because the bullying comments from the judges have been getting worse with each passing week. The things that have been said to him have at times been horrendous...and these four jumped up little twits, who think they're the bees knees, should all be sacked, for how they've behaved.

They've not only bullied him on the show, with vile and nasty comments, which even failed to be remotely humourous towards the end, but they also went to the papers, and gave interviews, saying he shouldn't be on there.

The BBC *asked* John on there, as a guest. As such, he had an equal opportunity to win this show, along with all the other contestants.

If they asked him to be on there 'for a laugh' so that they could laugh at 'the old guy who couldn't dance' it backfired on them horribly, because John became the most loved of all of them. He worked his socks off learning those dances, in the same way the others did..losing nearly two stone in the process.

He and Christina were made for one another. She, the gorgeous, beautiful Monroe Vamp, with the ice blond hair and a smile that would melt the Arctic in record time...She is one helluva of a lady, and to pair her with John was magic, because he's the most lovable 'teddy bear' of a man, kind, gentle, witty...all the things that women love.

You can keep your muscle bound, six packers, who look in the mirror each morning and kiss themselves..because John had the 'It' factor that so many women like. He has humour, intelligence, and integrity and he could run rings round all those spiteful judges with his charm and kindess.

I loved the way that every time he received a really unpleasant, 'stinging' remark from those Bastards & Bitches, Christina would gently run her fingers down his face, to almost say "It's OK, John, don't listen to them".....

Yet again, the BBC has let bullying take place, without stepping in until it was too late. This last show, the judges had obviously been read the riot act, and they were a little kinder in the condemnation of him.....but it was too late, the damage was done, the other contestants were starting to seethe and the Bastards & Bitches were out and running, encouraged only, and entirely, by those four judges and by the BBC themselves, who let it happen...

And WHY get the public to vote if their choice is being left to be bullied and ridiculed, to the point where he had no choice BUT to resign.

The young Amercian dancer, the lad who danced with Heather Small, said yesterday that he'd never seen Christina so upset as she was yesterday. She is a superb dancer and knocks spots of all the other female professional dancers on there...I've no doubt that all the men voted for her, whilst all the women voted for John. They were the two nicest people on that show, and I hope Bruce Forsyth has something to say about it all, because the whole thing has been a shameful shambles.

Bring on the Christina & John show and let them become 'celebrities' in their own right, because those two souls work well together.

I won't be watching this week.

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 01:53 PM

The Winners, because NOBODY can touch these two sweet people in the Personality Stakes.

John and Kristina (with a 'K') :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:09 PM

Another Anagram:

Burce Forsyth - Frosty Cherub / Cry he of burst

Kristina Rihanoff - On fair, fair thinks / Think insofar fair !!

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: GUEST,rock chick
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:10 PM

sorry forgot to sign in above ;^/

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Acorn4
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:49 PM

I think we're talking about minimum standards which should be applied here.

Oh, sorry, thought I was on the Folk Club Manners thread!

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 04:18 AM

I suppose what you're missing is that these judge folks care as passionately about ballroom dancing as we do about folkmusic. they get up in the morning and that's what they think about.

And I suppose John S. just makes it look daft. And moreover he's more popular as a comdey routine than all these folks having a stab at doing it properly.

And - its only human nature - the judges are incensed at someone making their artform look ridiculous.

My wife is an avid watcher of the programme, but I've always found Brucie a bit creepy. Not so much funny, as a parody of funny. I'd say he probably comes from an alternative inverse - and I wish he'd bugger off back there.

Its their own fault though, they shouldn't make fun of us fat people. And that's all they picked John S. for as a contestant.

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Acorn4
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:03 AM

It's ballroom dancing, Tracey, but not as we know it!

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: goatfell
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:03 AM

the only judge that I like is Len Goodman, as for the rest I hope that they are forced to watch John and all the other 'rubbish' dancers forever on a 24 hour loop

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:08 AM

With Bruce Forsyth commentating ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:20 AM

But John wasn't a 'rubbish' dancer.

I'm a great believer that there is room for ALL in this world.

Heck, wasn't it Hitler who wanted Perfection?

John and Kristina were charming to watch because of the imperfection. He still practised as hard as the rest, and to be honest, if most of the men in here were in a dance hall with John, and Kristina walked up to each and every one of you, I doubt many would be able to dance with her as well as John did, if indeed at all.
John would waltz her effortlessly round the floor, and be big enough to let you all laugh at him whilst he did the Twist or the Tango with her...He may not be the most graceful dancer in the world but he's sure WAY better than me.

He's proved himself to be way above all the others, in sheer guts and determination, and now he's shown great fairness in letting the 'perfectionists' have the show for themselves.

What matters, is not the depth of talent of the performance, but what the performer gives, and I think John gave of the best of his ability. It wasn't what others wanted though.

It takes me back to Jerry Rasmussen's post in the 'Sitting At The Kitchen Table' thread, where he spoke about a man called Ben who came to sing with he and his friends regularly. Ben didn't know many songs, played the same ones over and over...in the same rhythm too, but each time he sang, he sang with his whole heart and soul, and *that* it was Jerry and his friends loved so much.

Maybe the next series should have Jerry as one of the judges.

And now, back to this Perfect World where there is no longer room for those who don't fit the 'celebrity image' of those who seem to think it their place to judge others.

And if I were on that dance floor and had the choice of all those men, the six packer swimmer, the rugby muscle man, the Holby City actor hero...or John, well....I'd choose John, without a second's hesitation and be proud to dance with him too. Of course, *he* would fall over my two left feet, but at least we'd end up on the floor laughing our heads off.. :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:25 AM

And hey, don't knock Brucie. He's 80 years old, did an entire tap dance routine last week, well too. AND he's been making people laugh for decades, always with a heart. Yes, he's a little corny, but hell, he knows that. He's a family entertainer and one of the greats...My daughter has only just 'discovered' him, and there's something really nice about the two of us sitting here, watching this man that I grew up watching, and he's STILL able to entertain the young people...

He has happiness in his soul..and it shines out of him.

And of course, he has a very, very beautiful wife, and a former Miss World, as I recall. Yup, a Miss World with a deep intelligence, along with her pretty face..who married a far, far older man, who's charming, funny and uplifting.

I love Brucie, so you meanies leave him be. :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Strictly Come Dancing or is it!!
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 07:27 AM

And...bring back The Generation Game, with Bruce as host!   :0)