Strictly Family - Series 10

Dates

Sept-Dec 2012 (12 weeks plus launch show, 14 couples). 

That time period in context

Whitney Houston died in February 2012. In May Vladimir Putin became President of Russia. In the same month Ashleigh and Pudsey, a dancing dog trick act, won the sixth series of TV’s Britain’s Got Talent. In July Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and South Korean rapper Psy released Gangnam Style. In the summer the Olympics and Paralympics were held in London. In November Conservative MP Nadine Dorries was suspended from the party after her decision to appear on the television series I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (just sayin’).

 

Judges

Len Goodman (head judge), Darcey Bussell (new regular judge), Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli. Again it was “one in, one out” for the female judge on the panel (Alesha out, mega-famous ballet dancer Darcey in) which always seemed odd and kind of double standards. I have nothing against Len, Craig or Bruno but they all tended towards the repetitive and predictable and yet there was never any question of replacing them at this stage (or indeed for years in some cases). This “one in, one out, ladies” pattern wasn’t broken till 2017.

Presenters

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly (main show), though Claudia Winkleman presented one show with Tess while Bruce took a week’s break. Tess and Claudia (results show).

Zoe Ball It Takes Two.

 

Addition to format

Fusion was added to the list of dance styles.

No Blackpool this year but there was another trip to Wembley.

Was this the first series with 4 couples in the final? Can somebody else check please? My eyes are getting tired and we are only halfway through...

 

Dancers 

(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)

Johnny Ball and Iveta Lukošiūtė (new pro, she replaced injured Aliona Vilani in this series)

Jerry Hall and Anton du Beke

Sid Owen and Ola Jordan

Colin Salmon and Kristina Rihanoff

Fern Britton and Artem Chigvintsev

Richard Arnold and Erin Boag

Victoria Pendleton and Brendan Cole

Michael Vaughan and Natalie Lowe

Nicky Byrne and Karen Hauer (new pro, pic below from when she joined the series)

Lisa Riley and Robin Windsor

Dani Harmer and Vincent Simone

Denise van Outen and James Jordan

Kimberley Walsh and Pasha Kovalev

Louis Smith and Flavia Cacace

Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)

Johnny Ball (kids TV presenter, maths whizz and father of Zoe), Jerry Hall (model, most famously married to a famous singer and later a well-known media billionaire – insert vomit emoji here), Sid Owen (actor, Eastenders’ Ricky), Fern Britton (but I don’t know why – daytime TV?), Victoria Pendleton (cycling – I wouldn’t usually know cyclists but the Olympics had been in London so we all knew a lot more about sport that year, whether we wanted to or not), Michael Vaughan (cricket), Lisa Riley (actor, Emmerdale), Dani Harmer (actor, Tracy Beaker), Denise van Outen (TV presenter, performer, best slippers on Gogglebox), Louis Smith (gymnast).

Richard and Erin, Lisa and Robin, Dani and Vincent, Johnny and Aliona

Who did we vote for?

Louis and Flavia (they won, pic below and at top of post). Louis was amazing and the whole family had always liked Flavia (even Mark, who officially didn’t watch it any more). We were all pleased lovely Flavia got to lift the trophy. Here are the champions again doing something amazing.

Celebrities we liked more after the series

It was a cheerful series – we liked them all (apart from maybe Jerry Hall – they may be divorced now but marrying Rupert Murdoch? Unimaginable on so many levels).

 

Was it obvious who was going to win?

Not necessarily. All the finalists were very good and you might have expected a Westlifer (Nicky Byrne) to win (they are popular, so I hear). He didn’t make the final.

 

Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?

Yes, about Denise. She had been in West End shows and was a fabulous dancer. Maybe about Girls Alouder Kimberley Walsh too. Pic below is all 4 celebrity finalists (Louis, Kimberley, Denise and Dani).

Did it matter?

No, Louis was a big crowd favourite so it was probably always going to be him. One of Heather’s friends was totally in love with him at the time and I don’t think they were the only person in the country experiencing such feelings. Louis and Flavia’s showdance was great too (one of the best) and even though they used a Take That track for it (boo!) I still enjoyed the dance. Too many showdances are a bit “kitchen sink and desperate measures” but this one was a thing of beauty. It helped that he was a gymnast of course but it played to his strengths brilliantly. 

 

Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?

No.

 

Shock exit?

I don’t think so. 

 

The story of the series

As it was Olympic year the sports stars were quite central to the whole show (and of course one of them won).

Also, new judge Darcey had to learn to stop saying “yah”. It took her a few weeks...

 

And our family - what was going on with us at the time?

In the summer Mark’s parents in Leeds had their 50^th wedding anniversary with family visiting from overseas. As 50^th is the golden anniversary and it was the London Olympics and Paralympics that year we got them gold medals (chocolate ones). We did get them other gifts as well. Here they are – Isobel and Allan (she was born and grew up in Glasgow, he was Yorkshire through and through). They both loved a social occasion!

Heather had started high school in August (Scottish schools go back mid August) and her best friend at the time was a year younger and still at primary so that wasn’t ideal for her. As usual music, musicals and TV helped out – Strictly, of course, and she was quite into Glee at this point (Mark was more into Homeland – we cover all the options). Heather had also been to see her first live show of Strictly pros earlier in 2012 – not the official Live Tour but a show featuring dancers Katya Virshilas and Pasha. They came to the Webster Theatre in the nearby town of Arbroath in May 2012 and she absolutely loved the night, queued for autographs and everything. There is something really nice about the Strictly stars coming to these little theatres in towns that don’t get the big tours – it feels much more personal. She (and I) also saw Anton du Beke and and Erin Boag in Anton and Erin Go to Hollywood at Dundee’s Caird Hall in February 2013 and it was a great show with a band and one of the singers from the TV show (Lance Ellington). Being a superfan Heather has seen a few other pro shows over the years (she gets tickets for Xmas and birthday presents fairly regularly) and she has loved every single one. There are stagedoor fan pics below with Pasha and Katya in Arbroath (2012), with Vincent Simone in Leeds (Dance til Dawn show with Vincent Simone, 2014), with Erin Boag in Dundee (2013) and with Karen Hauer (Glasgow 2018, tour with Kevin Clifton).

Also we had a holiday to France and Switzerland in October and ended up watching (yes you guessed it!) Danse avec les Stars in a hotel room in Lyon late one Saturday night. We didn’t have a clue who anyone was in the show but we’d had a meal and a glass or two of “the best wine ever” (Mark and I, not Heather) and it was all just part of the family travelling experience (well, ours anyway). Later in the holiday, staying with an old friend, Suzanne, who lives in Switzerland, Heather even got to catch up with the UK Strictly as Suzanne and her family were also fans of the show and never missed it despite the distance.

On a very different note, in amongst all this we were applying, training and preparing ourselves to be a foster family. With Mum gone we had room in the house and it was something we’d always talked about. The application process is pretty long and slow (for the local council anyway, private fostering may be quicker) and so this occupied a fair bit of our time right up until the following spring. More on that next time.

If you want to read any of the previous posts just click Older Post below till you get to the one you want. Or use these links: Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, our Dancing with the Stars interlude and Series 9. Back tomorrow for Strictly Family – Series 11 (autumn 2013). Make sure to stock up on refreshments. We still have quite a few series to go...