Strictly Family - Series 5

 

Dates

Oct-Dec 2007 (12 weeks, 14 couples).

That time period in context

The first iPhones were sold in June of this year and around the same time Gordon Brown became UK Prime Minister. St Pancras International station opened in London. In Scotland the SNP’s Alex Salmond became First Minister and St Andrew’s Day became a Bank Holiday. South Africa won the rugby world cup final in October. Rihanna’s Umbrella was a big song this year. Lee Mead won the Any Dream Will Do TV competition to be Joseph in a West End revival of the musical. Enchanted came out at the cinema.

 

Judges

Len Goodman (head judge), Arlene Phillips, Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli.

 

Presenters

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly (main shows).

Claudia Winkleman (It Takes Two).

 

Addition to format

There was a preview show before the main series started.

Also this year, the results show moved to Sunday, rather than later on Saturday evening. This did mean kids could watch it live but as the results have always been filmed on the Saturday this also meant all the presenters and contestants had to start pretending it was Sunday (say “yesterday” instead of “today” etc.). It must be a right pain for all concerned and one that’s lasted for years now (I wonder if the production team keep a tally on who gets it wrong most often…). In recent times internet spoilers go out late on the Saturday night anyway so if you want to know who’s knocked out of the competition it’s not difficult to find the answer.

This was the first series with a dance off in the results show.

This was the first season followed by a Strictly Live Tour in the following Jan/Feb (and there’s been a live tour every year since – it goes to big venues/arenas).

This year all the pros were the same as the previous series. Professional Ola Jordan danced with rugby player Kenny Logan and her husband James danced with Kenny’s wife, TV presenter Gabby, in a kind of Strictly/Wife Swap mash up.

Model Kelly Brook withdrew partway through for family reasons so again the final was just 2 couples.

 

Dancers 

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

Brian Capron and Karen Hardy

Stephanie Beacham and Vincent Simone

Willie Thorne and Erin Boag

Gabby Logan and James Jordan

Dominic Littlewood and Lilia Kopylova

Penny Lancaster-Stewart and Ian Waite

Kate Garraway and Anton du Beke

John Barnes and Nicole Cutler

Kelly Brook and Brendan Cole (withdrew)

Kenny Logan and Ola Jordan

Letitia Dean and Darren Bennett

Gethin Jones and Camilla Dallerup

Matt Di Angelo and Flavia Cacace

Alesha Dixon and Matthew Cutler

 

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

Stephanie Beacham (actor), Gabby Logan (TV presenter), John Barnes (football), Kelly Brook (model), Kenny Logan (rugby), Letitia Dean (Eastenders’ Sharon), Alesha Dixon (as singer with the band Mis-teeq, nowaways she is probably best known as a TV personality/presenter).

 

Who did we vote for?

I voted Alesha all the way. My Mum voted for (Blue Peter’s) Gethin and Camilla (she was always a big Camilla fan) but they didn’t make the final. 

 

Celebrities we liked more after the series

Alesha – we all really liked her and were very glad she went on to many other successes. Lots of the other contestants were engaging too. As New Scots (with Old Scots roots) we enjoyed seeing Kenny Logan do well too. Here he is dressed for anything but rugby.

Was it obvious who was going to win?

Not really because although Alesha was amazing she ended up in a dance off near the end of the series so we did think maybe she wasn’t going to get the public vote (she did in the end, thank goodness). There was no internet voting then (just phone, I think) and according to my diary I voted for her 5 times in the semi-final. Is it sad that I have that in my diary? Please don’t answer that. There have been issues with the voting public and celebrities of colour (see previous posts) but when Mark Ramprakash won series 4 and Alesha series 5 it did seem there was some hope for the UK voting public (at least some of the time).

 

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

I don’t remember that particular kind of fuss for this series.

 

Did it matter?

It never does. It is usually a bit of a non-story.

 

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

Kate Garraway – she was another ITV GMB (Breakfast TV) presenter who was a truly terrible dancer (what were they feeding them over there?) and yet she and Monsieur du Beke made it to week 7 (pic below). I think it was probably this success that saw the birth of Anton the ham/comedy performer. 

Shock exit?

Gabby Logan – a former gymnast, she was doing amazing routines but went out in week 4 (whilst her husband stayed in till week 9). He was less of a dancer but, as we know, that isn’t always what gets people voting. Here’s Gabby...

 

The story of the series

Alesha just being great. She was a total star. 

There may have been romantic/relationship/Strictly curse stories going around too (you can look those up yourselves) but we were unaware of them at the time. Such innocence!

 

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

During this Strictly season my brother and his wife visited from New Zealand (a rare treat) so my Mum was in double heaven. They had to watch Strictly too of course. Heather was 7 and struggling a bit with the “you were my best friend yesterday but now I hate you” part of primary school (she’s a very trusting soul – just couldn’t understand how people could chop and change so much). She had a strong fancy dress year though (Halloween, school) and that’s probably the main thing. Primary school viruses were still a big feature and I remember she was dramatically, and memorably, sick during the Remembrance Day Strictly results show. We caught it in a big bowl* and she didn’t miss a frame of the show. That’s dedication to the world of dance for you. Here is Mum and Heather early on Xmas Day 2007 with the annual that came out during Series 5.

Meanwhile I had turned 40 (and went to Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow, saw Kate Rusby and Crooked Still, ate, drank, was merry). I was still doing the poetry thing – even singing with a friend in songs’n’poems public performances here and there. I was also on MySpace (ha!) and had my first blog (terrible layout, long rambling posts… so what’s new?).

And Mark? He built a bookcase. A really big bookcase.

 

 

Back tomorrow with series 6. 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.

*Please note this was not a bowl ever used for cooking. There was a thing online recently about someone using the same bowl for baking and boaking (Scots for throwing up) which is enough to actually make you want to lose your lunch.