Strictly The Final: 6pm tonight (new thread)

It absolutely was!

The Italian trophy was HUGE!

I watched it too and it was lovely to see so many of the previous winners.

Afterwards I watched the Italian final and Giovanni and his partner won so really pleased for him.

I caught up last night with the Strictly special which aired on Saturday evening. It was well named 20 Fabulous Years . It was a wonderful trip down memory lane and I highly recommend it if you haven’t already watched it.

I agree skate it is just a show when you have lots who are very good with little chance of improving because they are already very good.
I enjoy a good dance but they like to talk about inspiring others and there can’t be much if any inspiration if dancers are given high marks from very early on.
no matter how good someone has been they start high scores too early so later on the scores aren’t showing how far someone has come and when they say I couldn’t tell the professional from the pupil, I always think, so what’s the point in all those years of training if someone can achieve so much in a few weeks.

Layton didn't need a leg up from Strictly. He had already auditioned for I think it was Cabaret at the start of the 2023 series. Good celeb dancers are usually booked months in advance. My DGodD is in panto at the moment, but next year's shows are in the diary.

Call me an old cynic .....I'm of the mind that the likes of Layton and Tasha choose to take part as a boost to their careers. They pretty much know they're not going to win as the voting public don't like professional dancers on the show. But they do very well out of it.

Just as some do it to boost their flagging careers.

I know Layton got a lot of online abuse and that should never be tolerated. Sadly that's the downside of social media.

I don't think anyone was "showing off" or "flaunting themselves", skate. They all seemed very humble. Did you hear what JB said about his rival, Pete Wicks?
This show is all about someone like him, who doesn't have dance experience at all, who comes and learns something and you really see a genuine improvement week on week, so more power to him.

Personally I don’t want to see already accomplished dancers turning up on week one and getting quite high marks, and then have to watch them week after week turning in similarly competent performances. What is the point? Where's the interest? The only finalist this year who had no dancing experience was Chris, and we had the pleasure of watching a non dancer improve week by week and accomplish what he never thought he could. That should be what Strictly is about - not celebs flaunting their dance expertise from the get go. And to those who say "ah, but they've never done ballroom: - please!! That is disingenuous to say the least, those with dance training will always have better body control, spacial awareness etc, so they have a HUGE advantage from the very start. And they know it. Wouldn't it be much more interesting to have genuine non dancers partnered with professionals, and watch them improve, rather than stage school trained celebs showing off?

..

I generally don't watch Strictly, but hearing that Chris McCauseland would be entering, I was desperate to see how this would work.
I did love watching Chris before Strictly, so my support wasn't of the sympathy or supporting the underdog type,
I've been glued all season, seeing the amazing work that he and Diane have done was fantastic, he went from strength to strength, and appeared to have no fear with all the amazing lifts and tricks they performed.
Yes, there were better dancers, but I believe Strictly should be based on the amount of improvement achieved each week, and no-one can deny that Chris and Diane's progress has been nothing short of spectacular this year.
I've never supported a couple as unfailingly as I have this year, and truly hoped they would at least make it to the final, but for them to win the whole competition, I was both amazed and ecstatic for them.
It just goes to show that no matter your disability, there are some things you can still achieve, and Chris proved that every single week.
Such well deserved winners.
Congratulations Chris and Diane xxx

knspol

I always record Strictly and then fast forward through all the prelims, the chats with Claudia etc and just watch the dancing, I also fast forward through Motsi and Anton's comments.
I think what Chris has achieved is truly amazing considering he is blind but he got the sympathy vote. It's supposed to be a dancing competition and the other finalists were way better dancers than him.

I think it’s about raw beginners doing amazing things through dance…not so much people with a dance background shining like they would anyway.

By that criterion, it should have been either Chris or Pete. And so, no Chris didn’t win because of any ‘sympathy vote’. He is the true spirit of the show and as such a worthy winner.

I always record Strictly and then fast forward through all the prelims, the chats with Claudia etc and just watch the dancing, I also fast forward through Motsi and Anton's comments.
I think what Chris has achieved is truly amazing considering he is blind but he got the sympathy vote. It's supposed to be a dancing competition and the other finalists were way better dancers than him.

😂

Allira

^He promptly banned us^

What did you say? "We've been thrown out of better places than this!".

Absolutely! My friend and I were once thrown out of a Wimpy bar when she decided to make a tomato and brown sauce pyramid in the middle of the table. So there.

He promptly banned us

What did you say? "We've been thrown out of better places than this!".

What a meanie! Perhaps he was jealous?!

Seriously though, we probably need to think differently these days, as disability in various art forms is now fairly common place.
30 years ago, the part of a disabled character in a play would be played by an able-bodied actor who would jump out of the wheelchair once off stage. Back then, I dont think disabled students were even welcome at drama or stage school.
The question now is how to avoid going too far the other way, especially when it might start to make a show like Strictly less attractive to mainstream able-bodied celebrities who think there is no point competing.
Interesting times, I don't really have the answer.

escaped

That's thought-provoking ferry23.
I wouldn't count Rose in that category, though, as she was by far THE best dancer in the competition that year anyway.

Chris was a different case, and though I wouldn't want to take anything away from his marvellous achievement, the competitors this year were not judged for their dancing on a level playing field.
What I'm trying to say, (probably clumsily), is that if we ended up with say Usain Bolt in the 100 metres alongside Jonnie Peacock, and Bolt won way out in front, how would it then be if Jonnie were voted for the Olympic Gold medal by those in the audience?

I do agree with what you're saying escaped.

But we, the public, are a fickle lot, and we judge to our own personal criteria, not as a professional.

Many moons ago I was part of a quiz team at a pub quiz where the landlord was a miserable so-and-so. We won three times in a row, so at the next quiz he gave us a 10 point penalty. We still won. Then he wanted to give us a 20 point penalty.

At that point I asked him if someone had won the 100m in the olympics 4 times consecutively would he cut one of their legs off the next time?

He promptly banned us

That's thought-provoking ferry23.
I wouldn't count Rose in that category, though, as she was by far THE best dancer in the competition that year anyway.

Chris was a different case, and though I wouldn't want to take anything away from his marvellous achievement, the competitors this year were not judged for their dancing on a level playing field.
What I'm trying to say, (probably clumsily), is that if we ended up with say Usain Bolt in the 100 metres alongside Jonnie Peacock, and Bolt won way out in front, how would it then be if Jonnie were voted for the Olympic Gold medal by those in the audience?

I loved watching Tasha dance, she's a beautiful girl and a great dancer, but I didn't want her to win becuase of all her previous dance training. I'm so glad the public always seems to be on the 'underdog's' side. Those who progress from complete beginners to proper dancers deserve our support.

Ferry Thats a good point.
They were both deserving winners, but it could get to the point where saying those with professional training have an unfair advantage will change.
It will still be partly a popularity contest too.

It's interesting that we've now had 2 winners with a disability.

If there was a sort of Strictly "paralympics" would this be seen as patronising?

I'd like to see those with some sort of disability compete together and not get lost in a sea of able bodied contestants. It would also stop the accusations of the sympathy vote.

I am truly interested in how the teaching style has to be adapted - I think all the pros who have had a disabled partner have been brilliant in adapting the choreography, and I think it must be very inspiring and encouraging for some struggling to come to terms with a disability of some sort.

The Irish have their version of this show. I heard today that the winner is blind. As Chris won the UK show it makes me wonder if its fair on the others.

Clawdy

I loved Craig, he was kind and funny, and also more sensible with his voting. Got a bit tired of all the shrieked "TEN!"s.

100% agree with you, Craig is the only sensible judge, the others are all ov er the place with their voting. How can Tasha and Christ both get a 10 score if you are judging the dancing there is no comparison. If you judge the achievement there might be. By the way this is what it says about Tasha if you Google it:- Ghouri trained in ballet as a child, and later attended Creative Academy in Slough. She has competed in major dance events and performed in music videos. What she had to learn on Strictly was completely different, she is also deaf which lots of people appear to forget that.

I used to watch the show avidly, but I enjoyed this year after not having bothered watching over recent years. I mainly watched as I knew Wynne Evans ( and his brother and family) as a young boy and young man, but found I enjoyed the show for its own merits again.
My opinion for what it’s worth… the result was the best it could be under the circumstances…the other 3 were much the better dancers, but Chris was pretty good considering his disability, showing really marvellous progress and commitment.
Like many others I couldn’t warm to Tasha as she was professionally trained and in my view shouldn’t have been allowed to compete, but her Fred and Ginger dance was superb.
JB showed the best progress and ended up a super dancer, but Sarah, at 53, was superb …stunning I thought, and not given enough credit for her ability and courage! Wish my legs (& body!) had ever looked that good, let alone at that age!
As dancers it would have been difficult to separate Tasha, Sarah and JB…so best all round to give it to Chris!

mabon1

It was a total waste of time for the other three dancer to perform as it was known from day 1 that McCausland would win.

Well, I must be the only person on the planet who didn’t think Chris would get so far.

Never thought he would make the final until a couple of weeks ago, and still thought JB stood a good chance of winning.

JB got all my votes.