Two Part Strictly Come Dancing Finals Today – Pre-Show Teasers, Review The Show, Videos
What a season this has been for Strictly Come Dancing and it’s the FINALS!! For complete dance information for the remaining four couples, Mr A has listed them all in comments in the former SCD post and we’ve made our predictions. Note too that the show takes place in TWO PARTS today/tonight (depending on when you view it). Times are listed below (I hope I have them correct. If I don’t, let me know).
Finals Show 1st Part (85 minutes)
Saturday Dec. 12th
6:35 GMT, 1:35 ET, 12:35 CT, 11:35 MT, 10:35 PT
Finals Results Show 2nd Part (70 minutes)
9:00 GMT, 4:20 ET, 3:20 CT, 2:20 MT, 1:20 PT
Also, the Group number is looking amazing so far and it’s going to be a touching one too. Note how all the couples are returning for it…
And the cast is ready to party…
Here is Len, Bruno, and Darcy talking on the finals….
LOL! More teasers for the Finals here. Many many thanks to Andrea for all of her recordings this season!
As always, let us know on all of your thoughts in comments. Also, BE SURE TO VOTE right after the first show!
Here are some Live Streams (works the best with a PC).
Watch SCD 1 (works for UK and other International viewers)
Watch SCD 2 (works for US viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 3 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 4 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 5 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 6 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Stay tuned for updates and meet you in comments with my thoughts later….
ETA: What a hot opening number and it was so great to see Gleb and Anita again!!
ETA2: Congratulations for Jay and Aliona. They won Strictly Come Dancing this season. Thanks for all of your thoughts in comments! Also, below is the last group number from the second half of the Finals yesterday as well as a fun Season 13 Rewind. For more Finale video coverage, see Andrea’s You Tube. Be watching Claire’s Flickr Page for some beautiful screen caps soon too. Special Thanks to them both for taking care of us all season with videos and photos!!
and
Let’s go! I’m with you, Vogue, Jay and Georgia both totally deserve it. I’ll be voting for whichever of them dances the best tonight. No point in splitting votes in the final I don’t think. I swear to God if the judges give Katie a ballroom dance I will scream. I’m chasing a source who seems certain that Jay’s judges choice is Quickstep to try and find out the others.
DITTO!! Let us know if you find out on the others. Excited!!
Happy finale, Vogue! None of our favourites made it there (Helen and Anita) so I for one am hoping for a fair finale, hopefully the one who’s the best won. Or, you know, the one who connected the best with the viewers or whatever.
I’m still hoping Katie would get to reprise her Tango. Somewhat disappointed their favourite dance was the Viennese Waltz, since I don’t think it was all that. If that should be a Latin, then I hope it’s her first week Jive, that one was crisp and neat.
So Jay got the… Quickstep. And the… Paso. What in the flipping hell. I know at least it’s not his first week dance, but none are terribly memorable in any way. I get that they weren’t (I think they weren’t?) allowed to reprise week 10-12 dances, but Holy Hell. Still think he’ll win, Louis Smith-style, but I was hoping they’ll win with a total knockout dance. And I’m not seeing that on their Paso.
As long as Georgia isn’t reprising her week 2 Waltz that absolutely nobody remembered, I guess she’s not really out of the race yet. Especially with reprising her Charleston had she made it to final three. Still though, Contempowaft Showdance is waiting.
Am I missing anyone? I don’t think I am. Crossing fingers for Helen, I mean Jay, to take it all. Deservedly, hopefully.
LETS DO THIS! It won’t be hear for another 8 months so lets make the best of it
I’m ready rock and dance. Lets!!!!! lol Thanks again for everything, All! This has been a blast!
Daniel, I agree…here’s to a fair finale! YES to Helen winning over Jay. Oh wait! lol
1st dances:
1. Georgia and Giovani – Wow, this has to be one of the most stunning Rumbas I’ve ever seen. I loved the Hollywood feel. And wow to her backwards fall. I loved the ending move too. Just beautiful.
2. Jay and Aliona – OMG, did they ever rock that Quickstep or what? I didn’t see the mistakes. All I saw is that they were electrifying out there. I loved Jay’s posture, glides, and class…and with his rock out personality and to the beats too. Excellent!!
3. Kellie and Kevin – They had a lot of fun out there and it was a power filled, but it didn’t really feel like a tango to me at times…especially in the beginning. I thought she was weak in hold and some of her bends.
4. Katie and Anton – She started out fast and it was almost near perfect until the end when she lost steam and almost lost her cane.
Show Dances:
1. Georgia and Giovanni – They took me to another place again. Just so so beautiful again. They made me cry again. I loved all of the passion and romance.
2. Jay and Aliona – I don’t care what the judges said, this show dance was all “Jay”. I loved the whole feel of it and how clever it was with the music. I loved all of his leg work and when he turned her in his hand.
3. Kellie and Kevin – Once again…. I wasn’t feeling it like the judges. I thought it was messy at the end and her legs were too far apart. I loved how fast and furious they were though and it was totally entertaining.
4. Kati and Anton – This wasn’t good. Her arms and legs were weak all over. This is where I stopped to think of Gleb and Anita again and how they would have danced to that song. Can you imagine the production and how Gleb would loved creating something for it? Oh well.
Imo, Georgia is the winner with Jay second!! I have a feeling though that Kellie will win it all since the judges loved her so much.
Be back later, All. I’m going shopping.
well, well, well.
I was sooo looking forward to this finale and the showdances but I am a little disappointed. Not by the dancing – the dancing was as good as all season long. But I expected more creativity in the showdances. I am really disappointed by Jay and Aliona. Aliona is one of the best female pros on the show and they danced beautifully, But it felt more like a regular routine, a fusion routine – than a showdance.
Therefore I don’t see him as the top favourite anymore.
Dancingwise Georgia and Kellie were equal. I don’t see Kellie being superior to all the others, like the judges did.
My ranking:
Georgia and Giovanni – just because I am a sucker for romance and Ballroom and hold and lines and being touched. All of that was delivered and that’s why they top my leaderboard.
Kevin and Kellie – she is a brilliant dancer. Somebody please give her some advice on costumes by the way (that Showdance costume…). She can go all the way and would deserve it.
Jay and Aliona – great couple, great dancers BUT the QS was not perfect and that showdance… well see what I wrote. I would still love for him to take it. Let’s see how GB votes.
Katie and Anton – the weakest couple. Tooooo many mistakes on 42nd street. The showdance was pure drama and I am all for that. But mistakes there too and wobbles towards the end.
They all rock. And I will be happy with whoever gets to go home with the trophy. Just missing some Gleb and Anita 🙁
Quite frankly, The DWTS producers need to make a trip to the UK for a refresher course on how to open a show!!! The Strictly opener is awesome!!!
I totally agree with Vogue, I feel Georgia and Giovanni did an awesome job today. They were a great couple. Jay and Aliona were also terrific but I tend to watch her and it distracts from watching Jay. I am afraid Kellie might win this, just because of the judges scores. I did not care for her throughout the entire competition, but I will say she did great today. As far as Katie is concerned I visualized a few other people dancing to that music and making it so much more meaningful and powerful and passionate. (Gleb and Anita) were missed so much today. Farewell to SCD, until next season!
I don’t watch SCD but have seen a couple youtube videos each work and definitely think Jay has the best technique and his jive earlier on in the season was just phenomenal. I just watched the show dances now so here are my two cents.
Firstly – they are so underwhelming compared to DWTS freestyles! There is a lot DWTS can take from SCD such as opening numbers (as mentioned above) and proper ballroom dancing but showdances is an area that SCD should really take notes from DWTS about.
Kellie’s was the only one mildly entertaining to me – it had good production and great energy as well as a different feel to previous dances and the traditional ballroom route used in SCD. Georgia’s was beautiful but too ballroom-y – which I guess is SCD’s m.o but i thought show dances was supposed to move away from that – I felt like they could’ve used that concept (which was fantastic) in more of a contemporary piece. Katie’s was not good and why would Anton choose that song? Jay will hopefully win but his showdance was mediocre at best. There is so much more she could’ve done with him – when you have a celeb partner like that you should make the most of your choreographic freedom.
First off, Thank you Vogue for enjoying the show all series and posting up the thread. Hope you and anyone else who watched the show for the first time enjoyed it!
Jay didn’t have his best night but he ran away with the vote as he probably has been doing all series IMO. His final dance was a reminder as to how good he was. I’m happy for Aliona as well despite her nearly costing Jay tonight. The freestyles were underwhelming IMO and a stark reminder that DWTS is for me the superior show in terms of pro dancers creativity and choreography.
As someone who hates the Clifton’s and the whole family, the best part of that was seeing Kevin’s face and then Joanne and Karen’s sour faces in the skybox when the camera panned over. They thought it was in the bag! Thought the celebrations were extremely muted compared to normal, you could tell half the pros wanted Kellie and Kevin to win. Credit to Gleb and Aljaz for going straight to Jay and lifting him up.
Whaaa I am really happy with the winners!!! They totally deserved it. Is Aliona the first pro to ever win more than once on Strictly? What A great season! I agree with jimmbboe the producers of DWTS need to watch this and learn how it’s done. Now we have to wait for Strictly until next year.
She is Leandra, she has a ridiculous record on the show. It goes something like, 3rd out, 2nd place, winner, injured before the 1st live show partner 1st out anyway, 1st out, 1st out, winner. She doesn’t do middle season exits!
Loved all the dances Except for the ones from Katie and Anton (sorry to say this but worst show dance I’ve seen). I feel like if jay wasn’t around Kellie would have won easily but I gotta admit that aliona plus show dance equals perfection. If I’m right, is she the only pro to win twice? I gotta agree with m8 though that it looked like half of the pros were 100 percent team Clifton. He will win eventually….just not this season. Beat freestyle of the bunch in my opinion (jay and aliona a close second). Georgia and Giovanni…..I really loved the freestyle but in a weird way it made me go “that’s it?”. Early prediction for next season: no Anton. I think he showed tonight and a lot this season that it’s getting close to the time where he needs to either read up on certain dance styles or just stop.
Oh and was it just me or were Kevin and Kellie a little out of sync in their charleston? Like I can’t pinpoint an exact moment in the dance until I check it out on YouTube but there definately was a moment where I spotted.
You guys, why do many not like the cliftons? What have they done? I don’t know must about the strictly pros.
Thanks so much for all of your thoughts. I just got home from shopping and I have to catch up with Part 2, but, I just heard on the winners. Jay’s paso must have been really good. Can’t wait to see it. I’m so happy for him!!
M8, you are so welcome. Let’s do it again next season. I loved it and I’m hooked. Thanks again everyone for such a fun fun time!!
Another successful and highly enjoyable Strictly series in my opinion: I liked (or loved) all of the celebs. All the couples had their good points (even the no-hopers), and the dance standard was really high. The only bitter pill for me was Anita/Gleb and Helen/Aljaz not making the final, but let’s not dwell on the negative.
First off, I was relieved beyond belief that Katie and Anton did NOT make the final 3. That would have been awful. So once that was sorted, I knew I could live with the result.
Jay and Aliona are worthy champions (I’ve loved watching their dances all series), but tonight my vote went to Georgia and Giovanni. It’s all personal preference, but I base my choice on the series as a whole and which celeb I think consistently combined technique and performance. However, if I had to vote based only on tonight’s performances, I would have voted for Kellie and Kevin. They delivered in all 3 dances, and I enjoyed their showdance more than the others.
Vin, I agree with you, I think Kellie and Kevin would have taken it tonight if Jay hadn’t been on the show. Jay won the hearts of the mamabear/cougars with his gentle personality and hot Jive back in week 3, and it would have been pretty much impossible for anyone to overcome that voting bloc as long as he continued to dance well (which he did).
My opinions of the couples in the Grand Final:
Jay and Aliona:
* Judges’ Choice: Great improvement on their Quickstep, would have loved to see them absolutely nail it, but there were a couple tiny hiccups. Still I didn’t think it “spoiled” the dance the way Bruno said.
* Showdance was beautifully done but too subtle and “personal”. It did represent Jay rather well, but it had zero wow-factor. They were dancing for themselves and didn’t draw in the audience.
* Couple’s Favorite: Paso was a good choice. I loved it and think Jay gave it more power and presence and brought out more emotion than he normally does.
Georgia and Giovanni:
* Judges’ Choice: Wow, the dance chemistry, passion and performance was divine. Still didn’t see as much pure rumba, but it was better than the first time.
* Showdance: Thankfully not as contempowaft as I feared it would be. It was beautifully danced with lots of their signature emotion and connection, but it needed more flair to be a real “showdance”.
* Couples’ Choice: Absolutely loved that Charleston. Loved it the first time and loved it even more this time. Georgia seemed really relaxed doing it.
Kellie and Kevin:
* Judges’ Choice: It was clean, confident and sharp but with more finesse and control than at the beginning of the season. However, it wasn’t bad in week 1 and it wasn’t significantly better this time.
* Showdance: This was fab-u-lous as far as I was concerned. It was fun, fast, clean, and it completely engaged the audience. A beautifully danced crowd-pleaser.
* Couples’ Choice: Another solid performance. It was a clever concept for movie night and still worked well in the final, and they danced it beautifully.
Katie and Anton: They gave it a good try, but it was obvious they weren’t in the same league as the other three. She never owns the choreography. Now would be a good time for Anton to retire.
* Judge’s Choice: Their Quickstep was better but nowhere near perfect.
* Showdance: As I predicted, neither the choreography nor the dancing was able to live up to the size of the music.
Look forward to wrapping up the Strictly year with the Christmas special.
Cidra, well done! I couldn’t agree with you more. The level of dancing was high from the get go! I loved the whole season with an exception for how they picked at Gleb and Anita and how they and Helen and Aljaz wer eliminated too early. I still would have rather have seen those two couples in the Finals versus Kellie and Kevin and Katie and Anton. I loved seeing Tristan dance again too. I love that guy. Here’s to next season and guess what? There are already rumors flying that Elena Samodanova (Gleb’s wife) is lined up to replace Ola Jordan. I will be so happy if this happens:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/strictly-come-dancing-bosses-glam-7043006#ICID
@jodie: the only way I can really explain that is by using our version as an example. It’s kinda like how some people view the houghs and the fam (Val and maks and Friends). The thing really is that a lot of people thought that the judges weren’t really tough on Kellie this season and favored her. In the previous seasons people Also didn’t like Kevin’s sister being a pro and for some reason some people really hate Karen (I personally think she is great). as for Kevin, he seems to be a pro people either love or hate lol. I hope this answers your question but I’m sure one of the posters from England might no more than me on specifics.
Thanks so much Vogue (and Nathan) for covering this entire series of Strictly! I’ve always been wondering if the mods of Pure could make a thread or something about Strictly and this year you (and Heidi) covered it every week! Also thanks to the regulars around here (Cids and Adam) for your opinion, it’s been a blast!
Okay, happy time is over, now onto bitchy things!
Jk, I’ll try to be more positive this time around.
Where do I start? As a whole, one gif that would represent this series greatly is one of those “where did it go wrong?” gifs. This year’s cast is fantastic, just like DWTS, the winner wasn’t obvious from the get go (at least not before week 3). You got the young nice lad (Jay), the ringiest ringers (Helen and Kellie), the crowd’s favourite (Anita and Katie), the one dark horse (Georgia) and Peter Andre. The pros are also very talented, and going into this show until week 9, everything went PERFECTLY. The order was perfect, the lesser but entertaining dancers were axed that the exact right time, and we got possibly the best top 7 and top 6 ever. We all know Jay would inevitably win, but with other strong dancers around it’s hard not to get excited at the prospect that maybe, just maybe, someone might take it away from him. And then, to answer my question above, these happened:
– Week 11 was an absolute travesty.
– Helen is eliminated out of nowhere despite being a better dancer than virtually everyone else.
– Week 12 was an absolute trainwreck, not a single amazing dance around, and it’s the semis!
– Anita is eliminated out of nowhere despite doing a better performance in the dance-off than Katie.
– Kellie’s genuine triumph in the finale (you don’t hear this from me often) is sadly scratched by whoever responsible there who decided to make her the next Natalie Gumede. It didn’t even feel worthy of mocking, I just felt rather sad actually, since there was no way in hell she’d win. No, not even with three 40s, it won’t happen at all.
– Katie doing absolutely terriby in the finale.
– And in the end, Jay still took it all.
That doesn’t sound terribly positive, but whatever. All I’m saying is that I can’t believe how this series has sank so quickly in the last three weeks when back there I declared (and still think) this is the best top 6 Strictly ever had.
And I haven’t even touched the Judges’ Choices yet! Sure, it’d be nice to see them re-performing something to show how improved they are, but on the flip side it usually made us watch something we don’t exactly want to watch again. Jay made tons of mistakes in his Quickstep, does that mean we want to see him doing it again? Heck no. He didn’t get perfect score for his Tango, or AT, or Rumba, or Jive, why couldn’t he reprise any of those? Georgia had to do the Rumba again and Len told Giovanni to practically made a whole new routine since Len didn’t like the choreography in the previous one. How is that in any way fair to him, while Kevin got to reprise a dance where the first 30 seconds involving him and Kellie doing silly 60s dancing and get away with it? Had the judges’ choices were Jay’s Tango, Kellie’s American Smooth, Georgia’s Samba and Katie’s Tango, I sure as hell won’t be this salty.
And then Jay. Lord knows I really like him, but dear Lord is he sleepwalking through the finale or what. I don’t want to re-watch his Quickstep but that’s more of something to do with the judges, so I’ll let that off. Now his Showdance. Okay, he wants to insert bits of his past performances there, but it resulted in not only a terrible routine, it’s also the worst Showdance out of the four for me. IT’S WORSE THAT KATIE’S! His Showdance felt so low energy, they just look like they were moving from one point to another over and over. And finally their favourite dance. I get the reason of them not wanting to ruin their magical Jive moment again, I truly do, but for fuck’s sake just stop being so self-indulgent you two. It’s almost like Aliona is testing just how far could she be frolicking off the route and still win it all. Jive is Jay’s most prominent, most remembered and most anticipated dance, just fucking do it. Just fucking do it. There’s a possibility for mishaps or the technicality not being as on point as before, but just. fucking. do. it. Sincerely, me. Georgia reprised her Charleston, something people remembered the most from her, her personal highest point and the highest-scoring dance of the series at that time. Kellie reprised her Charleston, something I’m sure many, even myself, are fond of. Katie was going to do her Viennese Waltz, a dance surely she’ll remember dearly for being performed wonderfully, the only time she ever topped the leaderboard and possibly Anton’s happiest moment. Jay did his Paso out of anything. Lol.
I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade who might think this is a great finale, because that’s what I honestly feel. All in all I’m disappointed, because this series has build everything perfectly up until top 6, and then they bombed everything to make the perfectly built structure crumbled down to dust. At least Jay is a deserving winner, even if his finale performances left me cold. Good day, everyone.
Vogue, I hope those rumors about Elena turn out to be true! That would be fantastic. I like having married pros and pro couples on Strictly. I think it helps keep the focus on dancing not romancing.
Aliona has now announced that she’s leaving the show as well. So that’s my two favourite female pros on the way out now. Gutted!
I’m assuming Joanne Clifton will come in for one of them (gag) which leaves one spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if these Elena rumours turn out to be true as SCD do like to choose from within the pros circle so to speak (Clifton family for example). Gleb needs to make sure he doesn’t do what Trent did though and threaten to leave unless they make his wife a pro as well, else he’ll be thrown out the door.
I don’t mind it either Cidra but it left a seriously sour taste last Saturday when half the pros were visibly upset at Aliona winning over Kevin. It may keep focus on dancing but it doesn’t stop factions building from within the pro ranks.
Daniel, I have to agree on some of the things you said…especially on Gleb and Anita. I mean….the whole show was amazing and I loved my first season, but, they had this way of throwing sour water on it every time they degraded Gleb and Anita. I’ll never understand it and how it felt manipulated. If it was, why and why wouldn’t they want their show stopping dances in the finals versus Katie and Anton? And then there is Tristan and Jamelia….they were rough on them too. It was sad when Aljaz and Helene were eliminated too early as well. They would have been better in the finals versus Katie and Anon too. Oh well. I’m happy with Jay winning, but, I do think Georgia had the better dances in the finale.
And I have to really give it to SCD…they can really produce some awesome pro numbers. I looked forward to those every week more than anything. Oh, how I miss them on our version.
Cids, I hope the rumors are true about Elena too. She could judge DWTSRussia in the Winter/Spring and then be a pro on SCD in the Fall/Winter. It seems her and Gleb’s careers are really taking off now. I’m so happy for them.
M8, that is just sad about Aliona. I loved her!!
Hey, and the SCD Christmas show is on Christmas day/night right? Will it have this season’s dancers on it? How do they usually do that show?
Thanks again, Everyone!!!x
I’m actually surprised seeing Aliona getting this much love, especially on DS, never thought she is that popular. I still remember people keep criticising her often questionable choreography, but I guess time has passed since the last time we saw anything about her (series 9, that’s it) so maybe this time people has warmed up to her a lot more. I don’t consider her some of my favourite pro but I’ve always had soft spot for her.
Yes, Vogue, it will be on Christmas day. There has been at least three variations in the celeb line-up:
1. 2004-2009 Specials: Returning celebrities from any previous series. In the 2005 special though, Evander Holyfield and Rachel Hunter from DWTS also joined the cast that year.
2. 2010-2013 Specials: Celebrities who couldn’t commit for the full regular series. Fern Britton (Artem’s duffer) and Simon Webbe (Pixie-slayer) both did the 2010 and 2011 specials, and then wound up as a contestant on the 2012 and 2014 regular series.
3. 2014-present Specials: Returning back to the old format, but except for one celeb it seems like the celebs was not partnered with their original partner, even if the pro is available.
This year’s cast, however, includes Cassidy Little, the one-legged People’s Strictly champion. The rest are previous contestants, and except Cassidy, nobody was partnered with their original partners; even though Brendan is available for Lisa, he was partnered with Abbey instead, and Lisa got Pasha. Abbey and Alison’s pro, Aljaz, was still in the running when the show was taped, so was Aliona to Harry. Tom Chambers’ partner, Crazy Camilla Dallerup, has disappeared since series 6.
The pros who are competing: Brendan, Robin, Natalie, Joanne, Oti and Pasha. Notice a pattern? Yup, all of them are either eliminated earlier this series or not participating at all. This is because the show is taped while the regular show is still airing, and will be played on Christmas day, so you won’t see any of at least any of top 7 pros this series on this year’s Christmas specials. And at last, the winner is determined by the voters inside the studio.
Of course, since the show is taped, we already have this year’s Christmas special winner by now. Can you guess which one, Vogue? I guessed and I got it right lol. I hope that clears it up a bit to you 🙂
It is sad but I can understand why she’s done it. She knows she’ll get a bad partner next season and probably wants to leave on a high being the only pro to win twice, she’s been on for 7 years now unbelievably. Time really does fly! I’ll miss her even more for her dancing. Some of her pro dances whether they were group dances or couple dances for a celebrity singer were spectacular. Natalie is probably my favourite female pro now, she is long overdue a contender. Hopefully next season she gets one.
Thanks for all the info, Daniel. You are a wealth of info as always! I can’t guess…but, probably Joanne and whoever she is partnered with. lol
M8, for the female pros this season, I liked Natalie the most too.
Guy Pros: Gleb (or course), Aljaz, Giovanni, and Tristan. Anton is definitely on my most least liked list.
I had written a really long comment but it somehow got deleted before I could post it and I can’t see myself rewriting it on a phone while wrapping a baby and looking after presents to make sure they don’t get hurt so here are the bare bones of it:
Loved: The 3 new pros, Tristan (he was amazing with Jamelia)
Liked: All the other pros except Anton
Thought it was a great series with an extraordinary standard but it did decline at the end. I voted for Georgia but was happy for Jay to win. The blatant overscoring of Kellie and Kevin tainted their good dancing. There is just no way she was a perfect 80 for the first two rounds and nobody else got near a 10. Her Tango had too much faffing in Week 1 and WAY too much faffing in the final. I just couldn’t find a 10 for it. Her Lindy Hop was fine but it did feel like a copout somewhat, when paired with a Charleston. While Katie was protected from Latin, Kellie was able to neatly dodge anything showing her lack of elegance. Jay did fine but I agreed about the lack of wow factor in his Showdance. His Paso Doble, however, was very good and if there were 40s in that final that was one of them for me. It was in fact his only 10 of the series from me. Georgia produced my favourite Showdance and her Charleston was extraordinary. I still feel Charleston is something too many people are pretty good at to consider it for the final unless you’re doing something really special. Georgia did that with ease, class, finesse and panache, but for me Kellie did not. It was a Charleston. It was a good Charleston. Following Georgia it just seemed basic. That was my biggest problem with Kellie and Kevin in the final. They phoned it in, doing their week 1 and week 3 dances with almost no adjustment for how much she’s improved, which is significant.
And yes, that’s what happens when I attempt bare bones. I shall hopefully return on Boxing Day for what I intended to say on the pros today but lost, and for thoughts on the Christmas special, but for now thanks to all of you, it’s been awesome. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
You too, Vogue, once again thanks for covering this series. Been a blast. Hopefully you’ll do this again next year even if Gleb isn’t around.
Before I forgot, what’s better to end this series than do some rankings! Taking this current series into account of course.
Obligatory winners ranking:
1. Alesha (still the queen)
2. Harry (pleasant surprise has never been more pleasant)
3. Kara (literal goddess)
4. Ramps (a perfectly nice man who can perfectly move his hips!)
5. Louis (so little shit given, so Holly Valance)
6. Jay (he’s too endearing)
7. Abbey (a few less ‘ME NERVES!’ and I’ll be on board)
8. Caroline (she gets to train with Pasha every day JELUZ)
9. Jill (she did her Holy Jive in the finale! Jay who?)
10. Tom (is married)
11. Natasha (……)
12. Chris (erm… he’s funny?)
13. Darren (won for basically being fat)
Winners’ Showdances ranking:
1. Tom’s Fred Astaire
2. Alesha’s Paso wonder
3. Ramps’ hips victory
4. Caroline’s Contemporary with an open-shirted Pasha
5. Chris’ mashed potatoes
6. Darren’s one hand wonder
7. Jill’s Blackpool triumph
8. Abbey’s Sweet Paso o’Mine
9. Harry’s basic rock grinding
10. Jay’s spider-man sleepwalking session
11. Louis’ globe rubbish thingy
12. Kara’s jumpsuit trainwreck
13. Natasha’s time of her life, which is boring to the max
Top 10 favourite dances of the series:
1. Katie’s Tango
2. Helen’s Viennese Waltz
3. Helen’s Waltz
4. Jay’s Salsa
5. Anita’s Jive
6. Georgia’s Samba
7. Jay’s Jive
8. Anita’s Waltz
9. Georgia’s Charleston
10. Kellie’s American Smooth
And the least favourite dances:
1. Kellie’s Samba
And finally, my favourite couples for this series:
1. Helen & Aljaz
2. Jay & Aliona (except for the finale)
3. Katie Derham
4. Ainsley & Natalie
5. Georgia & Giovanni
Great, I forgot Anita, whose partnership with Gleb is such a firecracker throughout the series that I kept flipping them and Jay and Aliona on my ranking. Damn you for once topping my favourite dances list, Anton.
More rankings!
The best Showdances ever:
1. Ricky Whittle (S7)
2. Denise Van Outen (S10)
3. Tom Chambers (S6)
4. Alesha Dixon (S5)
5. Jason Donovan (S9)
The worst ones:
1. Lisa Snowdon (S6)
2. Colin Jackson (S3)
3. Chris Parker (S1)
4. Mark Wright (S12)
5. Kara Tointon and Matt Baker (S8, both atrocious Showdances from such talented final two)
And finally, my Grand Ranking of all perfect 40-scoring dances (excluding Christmas specials) achieved on Strictly!
1. Natalie Gumede’s American Smooth (S11)
2. Harry Judd’s Quickstep (S9)
3. Denise Van Outen’s Showdance (S10)
4. Kimberley Walsh’s Tango (S10)
5. Lisa Snowdon’s Quickstep (S6)
6. Ricky Whittle’s Quickstep (S7)
7. Jill Halfpenny’s Jive (S2)
8. Ali Bastian’s Viennese Waltz (S7)
9. Lisa Snowdon’s Foxtrot (S6)
10. Pamela Stephenson’s Viennese Waltz (S8)
11. Denise Van Outen’s Charleston (S10)
12. Simon Webbe’s Argentine Tango (S12)
13. Harry Judd’s Argentine Tango (S9)
14. Georgia May Foote’s Charleston (S13)
15. Kimberley Walsh’s Fusion (S10)
16. Rachel Stevens’ Foxtrot (S6)
17. Ali Bastian’s American Smooth (S7)
18. Chelsee Healey’s Paso Doble (S9)
19. Caroline Flack’s Salsa (S12)
20. Natalie Gumede’s Salsa (S11)
21. Jason Donovan’s Showdance (S9)
22. Caroline Flack’s Charleston (S12)
23. Mark Ramprakash’s Salsa (S4)
24. Abbey Clancy’s Waltz (S11)
25. Kellie Bright’s Showdance (S13)
26. Natalie Gumede’s Showdance (S11)
27. Caroline Flack’s Showdance (S12)
28. Chris Hollins’ Charleston (S7)
29. Kimberley Walsh’s Charleston (S10)
30. Lisa Snowdon’s Cha-cha-cha (S6)
31. Louis Smith’s Showdance (S10)
32. Matt DiAngelo’s Waltz (S5)
33. Abbey Clancy’s Salsa (S11)
34. Caroline Flack’s Cha-cha-cha (S12)
35. Kellie Bright’s Tango (S13)
36. Jason Donovan’s Argentine Tango (S9)
37. Pamela Stephenson’s Quickstep (S8)
My opinion on the Christmas special on the next post!
You are awesome, Daniel. THANKS loads!!! I seriously need to watch some past seasons when I get time (which it seems I never have).
The Christmas specials have always been one of my favourite branches of Strictly, mainly because it is usually less ridiculous than the other branches (Pudsey the Bear being a judge, People’s Champion or whatever, some underwater nonsense, etc). I wish they’d reduce the production value though, at times it almost looks like Strictly is rivaling DWTS’ level of production there. But nice dancing overall, as expected from fabulous returning celebs (except for one), and even the usual Christmas overmarking rather makes sense at times.
– I’m happy to see Lisa again. I don’t get the hate for her and it was so sad seeing her crawling through so many dance-offs just to get to the final three on her original series. This is her fourth Quickstep and she didn’t disappoint – very clean with no gapping whatsoever (Abbey did something a hundred times slower and still had gapping), although a tad… stutter-y, at times? Lovely opening nonetheless, and spot on marking. Also, what the heck have they done to lovely Pasha? I know Lisa is taller than him on heels so it makes sense they gave him that massive hat, but the makeup? Tone it down, people. Geez.
– Alison was a delight on her original series but why oh why partner her with Robin, of all people. To this day I haven’t seen Robin got a single contender to dance with, not even close. Easily the weakest dance of the night, idk, I love the enthusiasm, but she barely moved, no? The judges praised her for her energy but I didn’t see that at all. I love her, but she probably deserved like half of her actual score there.
– Wait, Cassidy was a dancer before turning into a soldier and lost his leg? DIRTY RINGAH! EVEN BIGGER THAN NATALIE GUMEDE! DEPORT HIM! Ahem. I think it was clear how much Natalie was enjoying herself dancing with someone who is able, and Cassidy didn’t disappoint doing the Jive with his blade. It wasn’t perfect, nor it was their Paso before, but really nice overall. The score was rather fitting as well. Now, let me start a campaign of #RingerForNatalie2016.
– Nice to see Abbey turning up too, and nice to see Brendan content for getting a model again. As expected for a Waltz by Abbey – bloody gorgeous. Gapping as ever but other than that really fabulous, showing that Abbey could do just as well in a Waltz without too much faffing about, and fair scores too. Nice to see the return of Chelsee’s Shrek Jive Tower again as well.
– Harry remains as fit as ever, though I have to say I fancy him more back on his original series than now. Another wonderful dance, the lifts were very nicely performed and overall the whole thing is very dreamy. I don’t quite like it when they were apart, because Harry’s Ballroom is just that good in hold, but it’s probably still my favourite routine of the night.
– Hey, shouldn’t Tom be classified as a pro now? I mean he starred in Top Hat for like two years of something, he even looked better than Oti doing the Charleston! I don’t know how to say this – his routine is definitely the most accomplished of the night but I still don’t want him to win. I’ll always be salty with his victory in S6 because he was the weakest out of the top four, but even now I still couldn’t warm too much to him. Not even Oti could do that.
I’m glad Harry won, if I were there I’d definitely vote for him too. Harry now had won so many incarnations of Strictly – the actual regular series, the Christmas special, the Strictly tour, and the one special he did with Ola. His only loss was the underwater one, but that was almost too ridiculous so I don’t really count it. Overall, a nice Christmas special to follow a very underwhelming finale of series 13.