James Jordan’s Strictly Come Dancing Blog: Live Show Week 1
In the second of our exclusive WhichBingo series, Strictly legend James Jordan is back with his verdict on this year’s launch show, and predictions for the first live show.
Once the the show gets underway, James will be dishing out his own scores on the doors, week by week as well as predicting which couple will be eliminated. Play along in the comments section, to join in on the fun!
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Reaction to the Strictly Come dancing launch show
Fun Chaos, But Too Long
James liked the idea of this year’s group-dance pairing reveal, replacing the traditional one-by-one ceremony, but not the execution.
“It was fun chaos, wasn’t it? I just found the whole thing around it a bit much. I wanted to stab myself in the eyes at some point. But I still thought it was fun chaos.”
The launch show’s length was his bigger complaint. “It was nearly two hours long, which I felt was a bit too long. It was like, oh my God, how much just to be paired up.”
He’s also unconvinced by presenters now sitting in on rehearsals, something Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman rarely did. “Why do they need to go into rehearsals? I just think leave them for the Saturday night. If I was a professional dancer and they told me Emma’s coming into your studio to film for two hours, I’d be like, don’t disturb my training.”
What he’d rather see is more of the show’s rough edges. “I want to go back to the old days, when you used to see the reality of Strictly, which they’re not showing anymore. There will be people this year that are falling out, having tantrums, crying, walking out of the training room. Let’s see that. Not everyone loves each other.”
James jokes how his friend Brendan Cole’s reputation on Strictly would likely be handled today. “When Brendan was on the show, fifty percent of his partners hated him! If he was on there now, he’d be like, oh, I love you so much, we’re best friends.”
He also has some sympathy for how much extra content professionals now have to produce, from TikTok clips to a new spin-off show, on top of training. “The new generation are much more used to doing all that sort of stuff. If it’s creating talk around the show, amazing. Is it working? Depends on the viewing figures, doesn’t it?”
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Jury is Still Out on the Presenting Trio
On the new presenting trio, James isn’t fully sold on the format, but he’s in no doubt about one of them.
“I’m not a hundred percent convinced on the whole three presenter thing. I don’t see how it’s going to add anything. I found it a bit confusing that one person’s talking, and then I just found it a bit unnecessary that they’ve got three.”
He’s careful not to write off Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe before the live shows properly start. “Maybe once the live show starts we’ll see why that is, because they’re clearly making a few changes this year.”
On Emma Willis, there’s no hedging at all. “You could see a clear difference in professionalism between Emma and the other two. Hands down, she should be at the helm of the show. I don’t think there’s anyone in the whole country that would disagree with that.”
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Who to Watch (and Who Not to Judge Yet)
Asked for early dark horses, James isn’t giving much away. The launch show’s group routines made it hard to judge anyone properly.
“It was all kind of chaotic, which was fun. I found it fun chaos. But for me to say, oh, this person is going to be really good, it’s very difficult.”
The one exception is Dani Dyer, tipped for her rumoured dance background and paired again with Nikita Kuzmin after last year’s injury heartbreak. “Apparently she’s had loads of dance training,” he says, though he wasn’t blown away on first viewing. “When I watched her, I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be.”
His go-to examples are Ed Balls and Bill Bailey. “Was he good? No. Was he entertaining? Amazing. You’re not going to forget him.” Of Bailey: “That was bloody epic, because you don’t expect it.”
He’s more interested in personality than technique. “I’d like to see people that go out there and have the personality on the dance floor. Someone that’s going to entertain me, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be through good dancing.”
the trained celebrity dancers debate
James is sceptical around the accusations and framing of trained vs completely novice celebrity dancers on Strictly, especially given the narrative of how last year’s winning couple was framed. “The narrative the BBC were playing every week was that Karen Carney was a non-trained dancer, but she was a fully trained dancer. She came out week one, did a double spin in the air, landed on the floor, and I was like, well, she’s a trained dancer.”
As for the benchmark to beat, he rates Lewis Cope’s run with Katya Jones last series above anyone else in the show’s history. “In my opinion, he is the best that Strictly has ever had on the show. There were a couple of his numbers that even the male professional dancers wouldn’t be able to do.”
On whether Strictly is now a popularity contest, he sees it both ways. “If you’re a fully trained dancer and you’re at the top of the leaderboard, it’s almost physically impossible to fall into the bottom two. So you could be the least popular person and the best dancer, and you’re going to stay in the competition a long time.”
He admits it used to needle him as a pro watching less trained partners survive on votes. “Now I’m outside, I’m one of those people picking up the phone voting for them. I don’t want to just see great dancing. I want to be entertained.”
Too much Carnage to Judge Early Winners
His final word on predictions: wait. “It was such carnage that I could not tell you who’s going to be good and who’s not. As soon as I see the first week, I’ll be able to tell you who’s going to be in the final.”
Alienating Older Viewers: Bring Back the Ballroom
James agrees with the growing complaint that the show is alienating its older, longest-serving viewers.
“The only reason Strictly was such a success is because the older viewers were the main demographic. They fell in love with ballroom and Latin dancing. Essentially, they keep adding in all these other genres, hip hop and contemporary and jazz. They’re good, but that’s not what the demographic wants to see.”
His prescription is a return to basics. “They need to go backwards a little bit and make the show more authentic again, with the dancing, the music and the VTs.”
Any Curse Gossip?
With no scandalous Strictly curse stories doing the rounds, Jordan isn’t sure whether that’s a change in luck or a change in management.
“Maybe they’re hiding it better now, I don’t know. Brendan’s [Cole] sitting right next to me, he was the one that started the Strictly curse, so I should probably ask him!
“If two people like each other and you’re together that length of time, it’s very difficult to hide that fact.”
New Pros, Same Old Story
The exit of several professional dancers this year has caused a stir online, but Jordan says it’s nothing new.
Last year’s new arrival gets a glowing review. “Alexis Warr, the new girl, what a brilliant addition to the team.” He reserves judgement on this year’s newcomers until he sees them in action. “Hard to tell at the moment until we see how they approach their teaching, their choreography, how they are as characters and personalities.”
In case you missed it, you can catch up with last week’s Stricly launch night preview.
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