Strictly 2018

Thought there was some promising dancing last night so it bodes well. Thought the woman who did the quickstep was amazing if she isn’t a dancer already. Agree about only watching the dancing, the extra bits are an excuse to read, brush the cat etc. “They” kept on about Graziano (sp) being a hunk. Not to me he isn’t or is everyone else lusting after him?

Alima - No, I'm not. Not my type. I actually prefer Kevin!!

You're not alone, Alima .... in fact I don't lust after any of the male dancers. Does anyone else find it tasteless when Craig and Bruno make lustful comments about the male celebs or dancers? It wouldn't be acceptable if those sort of comments were being made about the women. David Walliams on ITV used to be guilty of this.

Actually, I'm loving Graham Swann. I love his cricket commentating and he looks as though he might for a long way in Strictly.

I thought Joe Sugg was brilliant too but he is far too young and skinny to be lusted over.

My vote for the most lustable professional is Giovanni. I love his twinkle. I have a soft spot for the young one too (name gone totally) having seen him on MasterChef! He seems like a nice person!

I cannot stand cricket but loved the cricket music Graham Swan danced to. He comes across as a nice person too.

Danny John-Jules is an obvious finalist but it's a fickle competition, he is great on Death in Paradise a real character. I was listening to him last night he is a great mimic, at least 3 different accents
But he was a professional dancer alongside Bruno on the panel, lots of work on TV and pop videos and that will count against him in the scoring and to be honest it is rather unfair against amateurs, regardless of that I will be watching, on catch up if needed.

All Hail Strictly! It heralds cosy Autumn/Winter evenings curled up with DH the dogs and a

I thought the dancing was really good for the first round apart from Susannah Constantine who was an absolute fright. Poor Anton. I only know about four or five of them but that doesn't matter.

I like Claudia's hair with the lightened ends but if only she would cut her fringe - just a tiny bit?

I think we will soon see the last of Susanna. She didn't seem to know where her feet were. Gratziano may be a 'hunk' but he choreographed that jive to show off his own athleticism and more or less left his partner standing most of the time. I agreed with Craig who said that the dance was all about him. Graham Swan was surprisingly good and maybe will follow in the footsteps of Mark Ramprakash and Darren Gough to the glitterball. What a stroke of genius to use the TMS theme tune for a tango.
Yes, it was far too long. I preferred the system they have used before, dividing it into two introductory episodes. But I will remain, as always, faithful to Strictly!

Poor Anton another one to drag round the floor, but at least it's only for one more week [she will be voted off]
At least she's a step up from Judy Murray!!!
I was amazed at Aj and the paralympian.

Poor Anton with those Pom Poms on his legs, dancing elephant came to mind , better next week I hope.

AJ!! That's who I meant!!!!!

Why don't they ever give Anton a partner with a chance of winning? Susannah isn't even amusing. My secret lust is Giovanni but I wish we could have Ed Balls back! Nobody particularly funny this year, they all seem very average so far. I like Claudia's bleached ends but I gather she won't cut her fringe because she's got a phobia about her forehead.

Actually I thought that they weren’t giving Susannah a chance by starting off with that ridiculous costume. Don’t the professionals do the choreography? In which case, Anton let himself down and is not giving his partner any chance at all.
Don’t know most of the so called ‘celebrities ‘.

The samba is one of the hardest dances to learn because of the peculiar rythms so why did it feature in week 1 except to show up the weaker celebs.? It used to feature much further into the series.

Anton realised that Susannah had little or no chance of mastering it so did what he does with poor dancers (Ann Widdecombe eg) and made it into a comedy routine.

That's his role in Strictly and he does it with kindness and makes it fun and all his past partners have said what a joy it was to work with him.

I miss the personalities , Vincent, Natalie, the Jordans , now Brendan has gone . The amateurs are not realy a mix of ages this year

2 of them are 58 Anniebach so it's not too bad an age range.

AJ will have some challenges when the competition hots up. I imagine choreographing dance moves to compensate for his partner's shortened arm will have to take into account the difficulties with lifts and catching at top speed.

They looked good together.

Danny John-Jules was the character called Cat in Red Dwarf and is not only a good actor but a great dancer, ( before acting.)
‘Swanny’ was surprisingly good with the jive!
Can’t stand Claudia Winkleman, makes me cringe.

I loved the show, despite not knowing who half the "celebs" were. I thought the young man from YouTube did a great jive, and the young lady who got the quickstep at the end of the show did very well. Poor Anton has drawn the short straw yet again. Mustn`t forget about It Takes Two on Monday and all week.

Did anyone else have trouble with voting on line this evening? I was all registered with email confirmed etc. but the boxes for voting never appeared!
I'm not too fussed at this stage but even so ...

My votes went through even though I kind of make it up at this stage because I don't know who I'm really supporting.

DH suggested I vote for Anton. Not Susannah, just Anton.

I think the sooner Susannah is put out of her agony, the better. If I was her I would be asking everyone I know to vote me off

I think her agony may well be over in tonights voting Petra about time poor Anton got a decent partner.
There are several good celebs this year.
I couldn't agree more about the new pro dancer I can't see the attraction.

I was wondering if he asked to have a "lame duck " so he could just concentrate on the group dance and have a break .
Rather too many experienced dancers for my liking, though should be interesting watching them battle it out at the end.

I've given up watching the show on a Saturday till the list becomes more manageable. For now I'll watch the snippets on Sundays 'scores on the board' show.