Dates
Sept-Dec 2016 (13 weeks plus a launch show), 15 couples.
That time period in context
David Bowie and Alan Rickman died in January 2016, Prince and Victoria Wood in April, Caroline Aherne in July, Dundee’s musical hero Michael Marra in October, Carrie Fisher in December (I did say in the first post that there would be no mention of royalty but Prince is allowed). This was also the year the Brexit referendum took place in June. MP Jo Cox was murdered in her constituency in West Yorkshire one week before the vote. In July David Cameron resigned (“thanks, you did such a great job”) and Theresa May became UK Prime Minister. In November the saddest man in the world, Donald Trump, was elected president of the USA. In December in Syria the Battle of Aleppo ended (one of the longest sieges in modern warfare, it started in 2012). In pop culture Justin Bieber had the top 2 singles for 2016 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart – Love Yourself and Sorry – but in April Beyoncé released Lemonade (finally some good news). The first series of Stranger Things started in July.
Judges
Len Goodman (head judge), Darcey Bussell, Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli.
Presenters
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman (main and results shows).
Zoe Ball (It Takes Two).
Addition to format
Two new pros who didn’t get a celebrity partner (Neil Jones, Chloe Hewitt).
A cha-cha challenge in week 10 (I’ve totally blanked that out – did it really happen?).
Dancers
(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)
Melvin Odoom and Janette Manrara
Tameka Empson and Gorka Márquez (new pro)
Will Young and Karen Clifton (withdrew)
Naga Munchetty and Pasha Kovalev
Lesley Joseph and Anton du Beke
Anastacia and Brendan Cole (Gorka danced for Brendan in week 5)
Laura Whitmore and Giovanni Pernice
Daisy Lowe and Aljaž Škorjanec
Greg Rutherford and Natalie Lowe
Ed Balls and Katya Jones (new pro)
Judge Rinder and Oksana Platero (new pro)
Claudia Fragapane and AJ Pritchard (new pro)
Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse
Louise Redknapp and Kevin Clifton
Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton
Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)
Tameka Empson (actor, comedian), Will Young (singer), Naga Munchetty (news/breakfast TV), Lesley Joseph (actor, Birds of a Feather, a show that was big in the 1990s), Anastacia (singer), Greg Rutherford (athletics, long jump), Ed Balls (former politician), Louise Redknapp (singer).
Who did we vote for?
Early on I mainly voted for Naga (below with Pasha) or gymnast Claudia (below with new pro AJ) if they looked like they needed a vote. But from maybe halfway through I voted for sports presenter Ore (and Joanne). They were irresistible.
Celebrities we liked more after the series
Probably all of them. Except maybe Ed Balls (but more on him shortly). Politicians in light entertainment is a dubious business even when they’re not, strictly speaking, politicians any longer.
Was it obvious who was going to win?
No. Actor Danny Mac had the best scores and this was the series where pro Oti really started to show her star quality so the two of them were serious contenders. Louise and Kevin did well and were popular (Kevin had had a run of finals) and Ed and Katya were the talk of the town for a while. But in the end it was Ore (and Joanne) and the absolute joy of dance that won this series. Danny was great but Ore had the secret something (a twinkle in the eye, a lightness of step, he made it look so easy). He did a couple of dances that were just magical (a jive to Bruno Mars, a Singing in the Rain, their showdance) and best of all, the British public saw his talent and voted for it. We would have been happy if Danny and Oti had won as well but I had my heart set on Ore winning so I was pleased. It was one of the better election results that year.
Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?
Maybe Danny (mid epic samba below)? If so, I didn’t see them.
Did it matter?
It might have affected the vote a little I suppose. But for us the right couple won.
Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?
With new pros Katya and Oksana, both Ed Balls (below) and TV barrister Judge Rinder maybe stayed longer than you might have expected (looking at some of the others on paper). They did both actually dance though so we’re not talking Widdecombe levels of over-stay.
Shock exit?
With DJ/TV presenter Melvin and Tameka going out in weeks 1 and 2 and then Naga in week 4, this was the year that mutterings about Strictly (judges and audiences) serving its contestants of colour badly got louder and louder (I linked to an article about this already for series 3, that article was published at the time of this series, 2016). Both Melvin (pic below with pro Janette) and Tameka (pic above with new pro Gorka) could have been great participants and them going out early was very disappointing and certainly not the diverse, friendly face the show seems to want the world to see. For Melvin it seemed particularly harsh because the other celebrity in the bottom 2 with him (Anastacia) had an injury so there was no dance off and yet he still went out (due to lowest public vote – the rules apparently). You might say that some of the celebrities who get eliminated quickly don’t get votes because they are just not very well-known to the Strictly audience, as opposed to it being a matter of skin colour (and for some contestants that might well be part of the reason they fail to attract a following early on). But Tameka, for example, had been in the major soap opera Eastenders since 2010 (not exactly under the radar) so that argument can’t answer all the questions. Later on Melvin did appear (with his pro partner Janette) on It Takes Two from time to time and they won the Xmas Special so it was acknowledged in some ways that he went out too soon. I know some people might say “what does it matter, it’s only a TV show?” but this is not just TV (it’s careers, lives, public perceptions, the whole business of how racist the UK is, or is not, historically and currently, and what its future holds). Obviously, a black contestant (Ore) and a black pro (Oti) being such stars in the final in 2016 was better news for diversity on the show and, you might hope, evidence of positive changes going forward but the whole issue of how people vote is so variable. Sometimes you might ask yourself (in real life and in Strictly) – “what are people thinking? How can they possibly think this person/party is a good idea?” and everything seems hopeless. Then at other times it can look more hopeful – not happy endings perhaps, but hopeful at least. There are lots of factors at play (history and the media being two of the biggies) but it does matter (in life and in Strictly). Representation matters. Getting a fair shot matters. And calling out and ending racism in culture and in our society couldn’t be more important.
Another shock exit of a different kind occurred when Will Young (below), who after all had been through the whole “reality” TV process in 2002 when he won Pop Idol, withdrew from this series of Strictly after the second elimination week. It was disappointing for fans (he was very good) and no doubt for his partner. At the time all he said was “personal reasons” but more recently (see here) he said: “Looking back, it was a brave decision, and the right one … I was very ill. I had bad hypervigilance [an exaggerated fear of danger associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, which Young had been diagnosed with], and a bad nervous system. I needed to look after myself”.
The story of the series
Ed and Katya’s Gangnam Style. I kind of wish it hadn’t been what we all remember but this was a truly iconic dance and if entertainment is the name of the game then they certainly played by the rules. This was one of those routines where my jaw nearly hit the floor the first time they did it. Of course it’s in great part down to Katya (she is fearless, creative, unpredictable, not afraid to be in places where no one else would want to be…) but Balls did a good job, in that dance at least. Earlier in the competition (when he very nearly dropped her in their American Smooth) jaws dropped for different reasons. This couple were hard to watch in so many ways but undeniably unforgettable. Katya certainly made her mark in this, her first, series.
The early exits (already covered).
The beginning of the reign of Oti Mabuse (one of Strictly’s greatest competitors).
This series also saw Kevin Clifton reach his fourth consecutive final, a Strictly first. Would he ever win a final though? Well, yes… hang on a little longer.
And, of course, Ore and Joanne winning with those brilliant, joyful dances. Go and watch one now and try not to smile.
And our family - what was going on with us at the time?
Heather had done her first school exams earlier in the year (they’re called National 5s in Scotland these days). She’d done really well which was a great boost after all the health challenges (see last post). She was still doing local panto but she also took part in a schools dance activity rather misleadingly called Rock Challenge (it was nothing to do with geology, Scissors/Paper/Stone or heavy metal). In the competition different schools took part and huge troops of teenagers would perform themed dance routines to medleys of painfully distorted music in giant halls. Their performance in 2015 was Narnia themed but in 2016 the somewhat ambitious subject of the Irish Potato Famine was tackled (with Pompeii the following year). Every performance involved a lot of rehearsals, bus travel, hairspray and fake tan so it was possibly the closest she’s ever come to being a Strictly contestant. In this pic she is being prepared for some kind of Narnia battle (if one that also features highland dancing).
I was doing some proofreading work (say nothing, this is my leisure time) and was also part of a volunteer buddying scheme organised by the local council, helping new arrivals to Scotland with practical English support. I buddied with a young Polish woman, then a Russian-Latvian Grandmother, and then with another Polish woman nearer my age. It was a great experience and I would highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to do anything like that. As well as feeling useful I learned a lot about all the women’s lives and countries (and the Grandma fed me every time – even when I insisted I wasn’t hungry – as she had a very low opinion of the local diet).
We had a quiet Xmas at home in 2016 (after all the excitement of Ed Balls and co) but then headed south to Leeds for New Year. Amongst other things we saw the Strictly Ballroom stage show at the Leeds Playhouse. It was quite the night out as the show stopped partway through the first act and we all just sat there wondering what was happening (the lead actor, Sam Lips, had fallen ill). It continued with the understudy Dale White after maybe 15 minutes and it was a lively, fun-packed show (obviously with a big cheer for that understudy at the end). Grandma Isobel (79 by now) was a little disappointed she didn’t know anyone on stage (was she expecting a Strictly tour? Possibly…). We went to a lot of shows with her over the years but this was the last one we saw together. One of the best nights we had at the theatre in Leeds with Isobel (and Auntie Karen) was a night at the beautiful City Varieties for one of their Rock’n’Roll Pantos. The City Varieties was a TV star in its own right (1953-83) when it hosted the BBC’s music hall show The Good Old Days and we saw the venue’s Rock’n’Roll Cinderella in 2012 which was a-ma-zing (no one famous on the bill but the best atmosphere and great performers and players). Heather has seen (and performed in) more versions of Cinderella than you can shake a maraca at but my goodness, that one was a smasher. Ten paddles all round.
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, Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Series 12 and Series 13. Back tomorrow for Series 15 (with a new head judge).
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